In this work, we propose a linear base station (BS) precoding strategy based on switched relaying (SR) processing for downlink multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relay systems. The BS and the MIMO relay station (RS) are both equipped with a codebook of interleaving matrices. For a given channel state information (CSI) the selection function at the BS chooses the optimum interleaving matrix from the codebook based on the maximum sum received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) or sum rate to design the linear BS precoder. Prior to the payload transmission the BS sends the index corresponding to the selected interleaving matrix to the RS, where the optimum interleaving matrix is selected as the optimum relay processing matrix. The entries of the codebook are randomly generated unitary matrices. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed techniques is significantly better than prior art in the case of perfect CSI.