Swiss arrest man on suspicion of bank data theft
BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Prosecutors in Switzerland say a man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing confidential customer data from a Swiss private bank.
The Federal Prosecutor's office in Bern says the former contractor of Hyposwiss Privatbank AG was arrested Feb. 16 and remains in custody.
Prosecutors say a criminal investigation was launched Jan. 19 after the unidentified man approached a law firm and offered to sell the confidential data. They declined to provide further information.
Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger reported Wednesday that the data partly concerned the account of a wealthy Russian businessman.
Recent cases of stolen Swiss bank data being bought by foreign tax authorities have added to pressure on Switzerland to give up its strict banking secrecy rules.
