'Whistleblower' Rudolf Elmer given suspended sentence

Former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer has been sentenced to a 14-month suspended jail term after being found guilty of forgery and making threats in a long-running legal battle involving his former employer Julius Bär. However, the Zurich court on Tuesday turned down prosecution demands to convict the 60-year-old for breaching banking secrecy laws.  Elmer’s defence team argued that he should not have to answer such charges as he was an employee of a Julius Bär subsidiary based in the Cayman Islands – outside the jurisdiction of Swiss banking secrecy laws. Elmer's prison sentence was suspended for three years. He was found guilty of making threats against Julius Bär after being fired in 2002. His trial was held in June with the judge recording his verdict on Tuesday after deliberation. The trial heard an appeal from Swiss prosecutors who argued that Elmer should have been convicted of more offences during a 2011 court case. Swiss news agency SDA quoted the judge as ...