Swiss bank investigated after freezing WikiLeaks account

GENEVA — Swiss authorities are investigating if the banking arm of Swiss Post violated secrecy rules by divulging that it had closed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's account, media reported on Sunday.

"We are investigating if, in relation to the Postfinance press statement, there has been punishable action," Hermann Wenger, examining magistrate of the Bern-Mittelland region, told SonntagsZeitung.

But Postfinance spokesman Marc Andrey said there had been no violation of secrecy rules.

"We believe, that there has been no breach of postal secrecy," he told the newspaper.

The Swiss Post Office bank Postfinance on Monday issued a statement saying it closed Assange's account because he gave "false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process".

Assange gave an address in the Swiss city of Geneva as his residence, said Postfinance.