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Hailed as a hero by some for triggering tax evasion
investigations in several countries by leaking details of HSBC
clients, Swiss courts sentenced Falciani, a French citizen who
worked for the bank, in absentia to five years in jail.
The Spanish court denied the extradition request over alleged
industrial sabotage by Falciani in 2008 because the charges in
the Swiss ruling are not considered a crime in Spain.
"The Spanish Criminal Code does not include any charge similar
to the crime of 'aggravated financial espionage' for which the
Swiss justice had sentenced Falciani to a 5-year prison
sentence," the court said on Tuesday.
Last week, Falciani told an extradition hearing that he had
helped other countries uncover tax frauds.
Spanish courts and anti-corruption prosecutors have played a key
role in such investigations by passing on information that
originated from Falciani.
France, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Argentina launched
investigations based on the leaked data, but Swiss authorities
insist it was stolen and therefore legally inadmissible.
APPEAL POSSIBLE
The Spanish prosecutor said last week that charges were
different in both countries and that the information Falciani
collected from HSBC was never transmitted to private
individuals, but only to official organizations.
The Spanish ruling can be appealed within three days, although
Switzerland's Federal Office of Justice, which lodged the
extradition request, declined to comment on it.
If Switzerland were to appeal, a special section of the High
Court would rule on it, but the Spanish government would have
the final say as extradition requests are usually submitted to
the Justice Ministry.
Falciani was arrested in Madrid in April while on his way to
speak at a conference on whistleblowing. Spain's High Court
released him the next day, but ordered him to remain in Spain
while the extradition request was considered.
Falciani had been detained once before in Spain on Switzerland's
request - on a trip in 2012. He was released after the High
Court ruled against his extradition.
On Tuesday, the Spanish court said Switzerland's extradition
request was identical to that of March 2013 and it deferred to
the previous rejection in its ruling.
(Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo and Raquel Castillo in
Madrid and Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Paul Day, Jan
Harvey and Alexander Smith)
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