A FORMER Swiss banker facing prosecution in Zurich for breaching Switzerland’s strict banking laws has passed information to WikiLeaks alleging tax evasion by up to 2,000 wealthy people, including politicians.
The computer files alleged to contain the information were handed over by former Julius Baer banking executive Rudolf Elmer to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Frontline Club in London yesterday.
Tomorrow, Mr Elmer, fired by Julius Baer over eight years ago from his post in the Cayman Islands, will appear before a Zurich regional court to answer charges of coercion, forging documents, sending threatening messages to two of his former colleagues in the private bank and violating Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy laws.
“As a banker, I have the right to stand up if something is wrong,” he said. “I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. I wanted to let society know how this system works because it’s damaging society,” Mr Elmer told a press conference. He said he had tried to interest the Swiss media in the information he possesses, but was dismissed as “a paranoid, mentally ill person”.
Close to giving up, he said a friend told him about WikiLeaks. However, an earlier tranche of alleged Julius Baer documentation given to WikiLeaks in 2008 was not published by the website, even though it beat off a court injunction taken out by the bank.
Some of the 2008 data was seen by the Guardian newspaper, which said it included details of a large number of trusts used by the wealthy to avoid taxation legally.
Given cryptic remarks made at yesterday’s press conference, there appears to be the possibility that Mr Elmer has received more up-to-date information from other quarters in the banking industry.
Mr Assange said the information would be analysed carefully by bodies, including the Tax Justice Network, and business media organisations before a decision on publication is made. The Australian said WikiLeaks was currently not accepting any information from whistleblowers through its website: “We are not open yet for public business. The volume of material would be too high.”
Defending its reputation, Julius Baer has said: “The aim of [Elmer’s] activities was, and is, to discredit Julius Baer as well as clients in the eyes of the public. With this goal in mind, Mr Elmer spread baseless accusations and passed on unlawfully acquired, respectively retained documents to the media, and later also to WikiLeaks. To back up his campaign, he also used falsified documents.”
