Swiss arrest former banker for giving data to WikiLeaks

Rudolf Elmer arrested hours after being found guilty of breaching Switzerland's bank secrecy laws in another case
Rudpolf Elmer and Julian Assange
Julian Assange was given two CDs by former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer on Monday Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP

A former Swiss banker has been arrested for passing apparently leaked account details to WikiLeaks, hours after he was found guilty of breaching Switzerland's bank secrecy laws in another case.

The Zurich state police and state prosecutor said they were investigating whether Rudolf Elmer had broken Swiss banking law when he handed a CD of hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks's founder Julian Assange at a press conference on Monday.

In a joint statement, they said: "The state prosecutor's office is checking to see whether Rudolf Elmer has violated Swiss banking law by handing the CD over to WikiLeaks."

Just hours before being taken into custody, Elmer had been found guilty of breaching banking laws for publicising private client data and for threatening an employee at his former firm Julius Baer.

He was fined 7,200 Swiss francs (£4,714), suspended for two years. A written judgment will follow.

Following the verdict, Kurt Langhard, a lawyer for Julius Baer, said: "We are satisfied."

The court ruling did not concern WikiLeaks and the defence will decide whether to appeal within 10 days.

Elmer, who helped bring WikiLeaks to prominence three years ago when he used it to publish secret client details, had admitted sending Julius Baer data to tax authorities.

Trial judge Sebastian Aeppli acquitted Elmer on charges that he sought $50,000 (£31,276) for returning client data to his former employer and that he threatened to bomb the bank's headquarters.

Elmer admitted writing anonymous emails in 2005 threatening to send client details to tax authorities and the media if Julius Baer did not stop unspecified actions.

He also admitted charges that he sent client details to Swiss tax authorities, but he denied making threats against former colleagues.

"I am a critic of the system and want to tell society what happens in these murky oases," Elmer, who ran the Cayman Islands branch of the Swiss bank until he was fired in 2002, told a news conference before the verdict.

Swiss bank secrecy has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with Germany buying secret data from informants in a bid to track down tax evaders.

Switzerland last year gave details of about 4,450 UBS accounts to US authorities as part of a deal to settle a tax probe into its biggest bank.

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