Spain rejects extraditing HSBC whistleblower to Switzerland

By Abbey Westbury
September 18 2018 04:28 AM

CP787454928 — Herve Falciani speaks to journalists outside the national court after an extradition hearing in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. A former HSBC employee convicted of economic espionage in Switzerland is resisting extradition from Spain, arguing that his massive data leak from the bank\'s Geneva subsidiary led to dozens of judicial tax evasion probes worldwide.(AP Photo/Aritz Parra)

MADRID – A Spanish court has ruled that a whistleblower whose HSBC bank data leaks prompted global tax evasion probes should not be sent to Switzerland to be imprisoned for economic espionage.

A five-year prison sentence awaits computer expert Herve Falciani in Switzerland, where he was convicted in absentia in 2015 for leaking records of powerful HSBC customers who used the bank’s Swiss branch to evade taxes.

A panel of three judges at Spain’s National Court blocked Falciani’s extradition to Switzerland on Tuesday, ruling that an earlier extradition request had already been rejected in 2013 because “aggravated economic espionage” is not a crime in Spain.

The judges also said t Falciani didn’t reveal any secrets because he only shared them with authorities who initiated investigations in dozens of countries, including in Spain.

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