The Zurich high court has told the cantonal prosecutor it does not have sufficient information to judge an appeal lodged by bank whistle-blower Rudolf Elmer.
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In January a lower court gave Elmer a suspended fine of SFr7,200 ($7,832) for handing confidential data on clients of the private Julius Bär bank to the tax authorities, and for threatening some of his former colleagues after he was sacked in 2002.
Elmer, who worked for the bank in the Cayman Islands, maintains that when he tried to bring evidence of the abuse of offshore accounts to the attention of his bosses, he had been ignored.
However, the lower court judge did not believe his claims that he acted out of altruism in taking his evidence to the authorities. The judge also accepted that Elmer was responsible for the threats of violence received by bank employees.
Thursday’s high court ruling puts Julius Bär in an awkward situation.
Only the bank and Elmer himself know exactly what the stolen data contains, and the bank has refused to give details.
The court said that without this information it cannot pronounce on the case, since if the data is that of Cayman Island customers, they are not covered by Swiss banking secrecy.
Julius Bär will therefore have to reveal the confidential details if it wants to prevent Elmer’s appeal from being accepted. Otherwise the court will presume that the clients are not Swiss, and therefore not protected.
The court also ordered a new investigation into the threatening mails allegedly sent by Elmer.
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Ex-banker turned whistle-blower released
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The former Julius Bär banker had been in police custody since January 19, after he handed over computer discs to WikiLeaks which he said contained details of as many as 2,000 offshore bank accounts. On Monday, a friend of Elmer confirmed weekend news reports that he had been released three weeks ago. Elmer’s release follows reports…
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The arrest by Zurich police on Wednesday followed Elmer’s appearance in a Zurich court, in which he was hit with a SFr7,200 ($7,500) suspended fine. He was found guilty of threatening his former employer and breaking Swiss secrecy laws. In a widely reported event on Monday he handed over two CDs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange…
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Elmer’s public show of defiance drew the battle lines against the Zurich cantonal prosecutor, who will also attempt to prove in court that the former Swiss banker tried to defraud his ex-employer, Julius Bär bank. On Monday, Elmer handed over two CDs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in front of the world’s media. Elmer claims…
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Elmer, 55, ran the Caribbean operations of Swiss private bank Julius Bär for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002. He then moved to Mauritius and began sending global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer. Elmer said he initially tried to fight offshore abuses himself but didn’t get…
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