Swiss ex-banker on trial over data leaks

19/01/11 15:13 CET

world news

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The trial has begun of a former Swiss banker facing charges of breaching banking secrecy laws.

Rudolph Elmer, who was among the first to use the Wikileaks website to publish private bank documents, is being tried in Zurich.

As supporters protested outside the court, Elmer admitted sending private data on clients to tax authorities, but denies blackmail and a bomb threat against a former employer.

Elmer says he simply wanted to expose illegal activity, and went to Wikileaks because authorities would not act.

On Monday the former banker handed over to Wikileaks compact discs that he says contain information on some 2,000 offshore banking clients.

Elmer helped to put Wikileaks in the media spotlight a few years ago when he used the site to leak other secret data.

More about: Banking secrecy, Finance, Switzerland

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