ZURICH, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Zurich prosecutors this week charged Swiss journalist Lukas Haessig with violating banking secrecy over reporting that set off a high-profile corporate criminal trial of the former boss of Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland, Haessig said on his financial blog Inside Paradeplatz.
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- Zurich-based Inside Paradeplatz published a series of articles in 2016 about Pierin Vincenz, former CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Switzerland, and his business partner Beat Stocker, who were found guilty of fraud in April 2022
- That verdict is currently under review by a higher court expected to rule in January 2027
- Police in June 2025 searched the blog’s Zurich office and home of its founder, seizing evidence linked to suspected violation of Swiss banking law
- Prosecutors had dropped the case in December 2025, but Zurich’s High Court in April said a court must decide how the banking secrecy provision should be interpreted after a complaint by Stocker
- Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act criminalises disclosure of confidential information leaked by bank insiders, with penalties of up to three years in prison or a fine
- Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders Switzerland called the charges troubling and said Article 47 of the Swiss banking act must not be used to prosecute journalists
- Inside Paradeplatz’s reporting was clearly in the public interest, Reporters Without Borders said, adding the banking secrecy law had a chilling effect and pointing to “legal shortcomings” in Switzerland on press freedom
- Prosecutors said the presumption of innocence applies to Haessig. No court date has yet been set
Reporting by Ariane Luthi, Editing by Xevi Fontdegloria