ZURICH, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Swiss authorities have charged a former banker at UBS suspected of selling confidential client details to Germany in 2012, Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Tuesday.
An indictment filed at the end of July charges the defendant with qualified industrial espionage, breach of trade secrecy, violation of banking secrecy, money laundering and unauthorised possession of ammunition, an OAG spokeswoman said. She did not name the suspect.
The allegations centre largely on the sale of a compact disc containing details of UBS customers to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The CD related to assets worth 3.5 billion Swiss francs ($3.6 billion).
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported the indictment earlier on Tuesday.
UBS is one of several Swiss banks that got caught up in investigations into personal tax evasion as cash-strapped governments chased accounts hidden in Switzerland, where wealthy Europeans had taken advantage of bank secrecy rules.
UBS paid almost $300 million in 2014 to settle claims it helped wealthy Germans dodge taxes.
The OAG filed the indictment with the Federal Criminal Court. A court spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the case but declined further comment.
UBS declined to comment.
($1 = 0.9782 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Mark Potter) ((joshua.franklin@thomsonreuters.com; +41583067007; Reuters Messaging: joshua.franklin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
An indictment filed at the end of July charges the defendant with qualified industrial espionage, breach of trade secrecy, violation of banking secrecy, money laundering and unauthorised possession of ammunition, an OAG spokeswoman said. She did not name the suspect.
The allegations centre largely on the sale of a compact disc containing details of UBS customers to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The CD related to assets worth 3.5 billion Swiss francs ($3.6 billion).
Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported the indictment earlier on Tuesday.
UBS is one of several Swiss banks that got caught up in investigations into personal tax evasion as cash-strapped governments chased accounts hidden in Switzerland, where wealthy Europeans had taken advantage of bank secrecy rules.
UBS paid almost $300 million in 2014 to settle claims it helped wealthy Germans dodge taxes.
The OAG filed the indictment with the Federal Criminal Court. A court spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the case but declined further comment.
UBS declined to comment.
($1 = 0.9782 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Mark Potter) ((joshua.franklin@thomsonreuters.com; +41583067007; Reuters Messaging: joshua.franklin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
