Feraud conceded there was a team of five people inspecting more than 10,000 buildings – and explained that in 2016, four village councils had merged to become a larger authority: Crans Montana.
Taking repeated questions on why the bar had not been checked in so long, Feraud said: “I have no answer for you today.”
“We’re profoundly sorry about that and I know how hard that will be for the families.”
“I’m not resigning, no, and I don’t want to,” he later added.
He said it would be “down to the judges to know whether we’ll be part of this case or not”, referring to the criminal investigation that has been opened by Swiss prosecutors.