An ex-UBS banker is standing trial for stealing data from his employer and for selling the information to Germany. The defendant has denied the allegations.
The state attorney at the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona accuses the defendant of stealing data of 200 UBS customers in Basel and of selling the data to the German authorities, according to a report by «Bloomberg». The trial started today at the court reserved for major crimes against interests of the Swiss state.
The former banker faces charges on accounts of economic espionage, violation of banking secrecy, money-laundering and ownership of ammunition. He is said to have received 1.15 million euros ($1.32 million) for the information he sold.
Illegal Ammunition
After the deal was concluded, the defendant bought an apartment on Mallorca and sold it a year later, prompting charges of money-laundering. The ammunition was confiscated during a search at his home in 2013. His lawyer says that the defendant denied the charges.
The theft and sale of the information about bank clients led to searches at the homes of at least 233 UBS clients in Germany. The bank isn’t involved in the trial. It settled the tax dispute with Germany with the payment of about 300 million euros. Switzerland’s largest bank is currently waiting for the verdict of a court in Paris on similar charges.
