By Ariane Luthi
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.
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
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