ZURICH (Reuters) – An ex-board member at Swiss and German companies was found guilty of insider trading and qualified corporate espionage, Swiss state TV reported on Tuesday, a rare instance in Switzerland of someone being punished for taking advantage of insider information.
Hans Ziegler, 69, received a suspended sentence of 24 months in prison and must pay a fine of 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,886.13) and restitution of 770,000 francs, according to the verdict in the five-year-old case in Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Swiss broadcaster SRF reported.
Ziegler, a former board member at robot maker Kuka, Swiss Steel and OC Oerlikon, was cleared by the criminal court of taking bribes and other related charges.
He resigned from the board seats after he was accused of insider trading in 2016. [https://reut.rs/3j37iTH]
Ziegler last August was indicted by Swiss federal prosecutors who accused him of crimes including disclosing trade secrets and corporate espionage.
In 2017, Swiss financial watchdog FINMA ordered Ziegler to surrender 1.4 million francs that it said were illegal profits reaped from “repeated and systematic insider trading”. [https://reut.rs/3j0ndCf]
Ziegler, who could not be reached for comment, can appeal the verdict. His lawyer had sought a not guilty verdict.
($1 = 0.9186 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Dan Grebler)
