Zurich: Police were on Thursday expected to question former banker Rudolf Elmer over possible fresh breaches of Swiss bank law for giving data to WikiLeaks this week, a day after he was found guilty of violating bank secrecy.
Authorities have 48 hours from Elmer's arrest to decide whether they have grounds to hold him in custody for longer, state prosecutor Peter Pellegrini said yesterday.
Elmer helped bring WikiLeaks to prominence three years ago when he used it to publish secret client details. On Monday he handed over new data to the website, which has annoyed US authorities by releasing thousands of confidential State Department cables.
Elmer was taken into custody on Wednesday evening, hours after he was convicted of breaching strict banking secrecy by passing on private client data.