Swiss ex-banker fined, dodges jail term

Former Swiss bank executive Rudolf Elmer who provided details of over 2,000 prominent individuals and companies allegedly involved in tax evasion to WikiLeaks was fined fined 7,200 Swiss Francs on Wednesday.

The Swiss court that found him guilty breaching secrecy, however, sidestepped the prosecution demand for a jail term for the former Julius Baer executive.

The prosecution had claimed that Elmer stole client data from the offshore bank and tried to blackmail it and its officials.

The former chief at the Cayman Islands office of the high profile Swiss bank Julius Baer, handed over the data in two CDs to the whistleblowing website founder Julian Assange in London on Monday.

Assange promised a “full revelation” after two weeks of checking and disseminating the data, which includes information on about 40 politicians and global “pillars of society”.

Elmer said that he wanted to draw attention to “unfair system” that helped high-net-worth individuals and multinational conglomerates to launder money and evade taxes.

In a statement, Julius Baer had denied all allegations by Elmer and said the man was a mission to discredit the offshore bank and its clients.

The bank has accused Elmer, who was fired in Dec 2002, of falsifying documents, spreading misinformation and even making death threats against employees.