Swiss court orders fresh ruling for whistleblowers in multi-billion fraud case

ZURICH, July 22 (Reuters) - Switzerland's highest ‌court has ordered ​a ​fresh ruling in the case of three men accused of breaching bank secrecy laws over leaked data that helped expose the cum-ex tax ‌fraud scandal — one of Europe's largest financial crimes.

The three men, who ⁠are not named in the court document, were convicted in 2019 of charges including banking espionage ‌and violating banking secrecy, a verdict ‌that was overturned on appeal in 2021.

After years of further legal wrangling, the Zurich High Court eventually dropped the case, citing lengthy delays and finding the ​investigating prosecutor had been biased.

Following an appeal by the Zurich Public Prosecutor's Office, the Federal Supreme Court has now sent the case back to the ⁠High Court, ruling that neither the delays nor the alleged bias justified halting proceedings.

"The case is remanded to ​the lower court for a new decision," the Federal Supreme Court said.

German press agency DPA said the case involved Stuttgart lawyer Eckart ​Seith, who faced charges after presenting German authorities ‌with Swiss bank documents that triggered proceedings surrounding the illegal cum-ex transactions.

Two former German employees of Bank J. Safra Sarasin were ⁠also charged in the case, according to DPA.

Seith and his lawyers did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

Swiss banking secrecy laws make it a criminal offence for bank ⁠employees or third parties to disclose confidential client information, with no exemption for exposing wrongdoing.

The cum-ex ​fraud involves the complex stock trades where banks and investors would trade shares of a company rapidly around the time it paid out a dividend.

The goal was to trick the government ‌into refunding a tax that was only paid once. The German finance ministry halted the practice that experts calculated had cost ‌the treasury up to €12 billion.

"The investigation of serious crimes, even by those bound by confidentiality, ⁠is desired and protected by ‌the European legal order," Seith ​told German news agency DPA.

"I do not expect Switzerland to place itself outside the European legal order."

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by ‌Hugh Lawson)

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