Swiss banks and regulators may have given US
authorities access to the names of 10,000 employees, former
employees, external asset managers and lawyers who dealt with US
clients, a Swiss attorney has alleged.

Douglas Hornung, a Geneva-based attorney who
represents about 30 clients who are current or former employees of
Credit Suisse, HSBC and Julius Baer, alleged Swiss authorities have
passed on the confidential information illegally.

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Hornung said in media reports Julius Baer
alone handed over about 2,500 names of advisers who allegedly dealt
with US clients following pressure on the Swiss authorities from US
regulators.

The attorney said emails and telephone calls
relating to US clients going back 10 years have been passed to US
authorities.

Julius Baer said it does not comment on media
reports.

 

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Bankers ‘prisoners in own
country’

“This is a total violation of Swiss law as
Swiss citizens are protected by a specific article in the Swiss
constitution,” Hornung told PBI.

Article 271 of the Swiss Criminal Code states
that any person who carries out activities on behalf of a foreign
state on Swiss territory without lawful authority, where such
activities are the responsibility of a public authority or public
official, is liable to serve a custodial sentence.

“These bankers are prisoners in their own
country because they fear the power of the US. Technically they are
suspected by their own employers, but they were just doing what
they had been told,” said Hornung.

“They have been betrayed by their employers,
former employers and their government. In which other democratic
countries would this be allowed?,” Hornung added.