Swiss police on Wednesday arrested former banker Rudolf Elmer on fresh charges of breaching Swiss bank secrecy law for giving data to WikiLeaks, hours after he was found guilty of another secrecy offense.

The state prosecutor's office is checking to see whether Rudolf Elmer has violated Swiss banking law by handing the CD over to WikiLeaks, the Zurich cantonal (state) police and state prosecutor said in a joint statement.

Earlier on Wednesday, a court found Elmer guilty of breaching banking secrecy for publicizing private client data. He was also found guilty of threatening an employee at his former firm Julius Baer.

Elmer, who helped bring WikiLeaks to prominence three years ago when he used it to publish secret client details, on Monday handed over new data to the website, which has outraged U.S. authorities by releasing thousands of confidential State Department cables.

(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Peter Graff)

Court Banking law Constitutional law Tort Law