Former Swiss Banker Collapses During WikiLeaks Trial

Rudolf Elmer has been under investigation since 2011 for allegedly giving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange two compact discs during a news conference in London; although he denies the charges, the trial was disrupted when the former banker fainted.

MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) – The trial of Rudolf Elmer a former Julius Baer banker was interrupted as the accused fainted outside the courtroom in Zurich after complaining of a headache.

Elmer, a former senior executive, is facing a hearing for supposedly breaching Swiss banking secrecy laws by handing over confidential data about offshore clients to WikiLeaks, reports Reuters.

The former banker has been under investigation since 2011 for allegedly giving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange two compact discs during a news conference in London. While Elmer initially said that they contained confidential data on about 2,000 offshore banking clients, on Wednesday he told the court they were empty.

He is also accused of attempting to pass confidential client files to the German finance ministry in 2009.

In the past, German states had bought data leaked from Swiss banks in order to get the names of their citizens who dodged taxes, but it is not clear if Elmer's case has any connection to this, as reported by Reuters.

The 59-year-old, who denies both the charges, was taken away by ambulance and a spokesman for the court said it was unclear when his trial would resume.