Swiss Whistleblower Rudolf Elmer To Hand Over Offshore Banking Secrets To WikiLeaks

LONDON — A former Swiss banker was on Monday due to hand over files to WikiLeaks which he alleges detail attempts by wealthy business leaders and lawmakers to evade tax payments.

Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, told Britain's Observer newspaper on Sunday that the documents include details of about 2,000 accounts held in offshore financial centers. He says the account holders include "high net worth" celebrities, business leaders and lawmakers from the U.S., Britain and Asia.

Elmer, who has previously leaked banking documents to the secret-spilling site, was scheduled to hold a news conference later Monday at London's Frontline Club with a WikiLeaks representative. Vaughan Smith, the owner of the Frontline Club, said he couldn't say who the representative would be.

Smith's 10-bedroom mansion in eastern England has been serving as a makeshift headquarters for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange since he was released on bail on Dec. 16. Assange has compared his bail conditions – which largely confine him to Smith's home – to "high-tech house arrest," but has recently promised that the flow of leaked documents would increase.

Elmer's press conference comes two days before he is due to appear before a Zurich regional court to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws.

He told the Observer newspaper he planned to disclose the new set of files to expose activities in offshore financial centers. "The one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

Comments

[KeithH1]

11:47 AM on 01/26/2011

God Save WikiLeaks!

[SDLee]

05:41 PM on 01/19/2011

How come people don't get Switzerland's leadership is a criminal enyerprise. They sell safe haven to the world's criminal masterminds, mafiosi, despots, tyrants, corporate swindlers and war criminals in their golden years. All that's required tganizationso enjoy these benefits is enough money. They protect that safe haven with laws designed to strike fear into the citizenry for any attempt at interference. Add the large number of murky quasi-state international organizations based in Switzerland which are basically money laundering organizations and you've got the picture of morally destitute nation. Only the highest levels of American officials can elicit cooperation from the Swiss. The whole joke is it's run by well heeled suits so it has the veneer of ultra-respectability.

[Action Sam]

11:34 AM on 01/18/2011

will this be another "massive dump" ??

[Dinesh Patel]

04:41 AM on 01/18/2011

I am sure Sonia/Rahul Gandhi's name would be on top of list to have money in Swiss Bank. See SONIA/RAHUL GANDHI Exposed on YOUTUBE. COM by Dr Swamy. Every Indian who's names comes out stacking Looted money in Swiss Bank must be arrested under NSA and Officially named " TRAITOR ". Julian Assanje should be Honored as " BHARAT RATNA " for his Great Patroitic work to India which no Security Agency or Politician had done till today.

[Persson4]

12:53 AM on 01/18/2011

Fingers crossed Rupert Murdoch is on the list!

[KeithH1]

11:49 AM on 01/26/2011

And Dick Cheney.

[MicheleMoore-Happy1]

06:12 PM on 01/17/2011

Ever wonder why you don't hear from AMERICAN bank whistle blowers with all the fraud and mismanagement in the banking and mortgage industries?

American bank whistle blowers are silenced.

I know because I spent 20 years doing senior level management and technical consulting at a large Atlanta based national bank. Three Executive Vice Presidents were fired for accounting improprieties during a major SEC investigation of this bank, the EVP I reported to survived.

A long series of thefts, threats, vandalism and communications disruptions intensified after I talked to the SEC about major accounting problems at this bank not mentioned in the press.

See http://www.reportingwrongdoing.com/

My Verizon Blackberry telephone and email communications are being hacked and spoofed in retaliation - it's a criminal metaphor for whistle blower silencing.

http://www.reportingwrongdoing.com/help-a-whistleblower.html

The charges are easy to prove. Major media outlets haven't been willing to cover the story.

How can we stop the silencing of bank whistle blowers in America?

[expatasia]

05:53 PM on 01/17/2011

And now this WikiLeaks style site will be launching in Asia-

http://www­­.apacleak­s­.org/

Can't wait to see what they will be making known to the world...

[expatasia]

05:51 PM on 01/17/2011

Unfortunat­ely, many corporatio­ns threaten their potential whistleblo­wers into silence, like this Samsung attorney-

http://www.reddit.com/r/WikiLeaks/comments/f1m9b/is_this_a_thinly_veiled_threat_to_disappear_any/

[Kye154]

05:29 PM on 01/17/2011

It would be really surprising if Dick Cheney's name did not pop up on one 2,000 account holders named in the documents. But, I am willing to take bets that every one of the top 10 executives from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citigroup, UBS, JP Morgan banks are on the list, along with Wall Street execs from Goldman Sachs, and some of the infamous AIG execs too. With all the money they made in bonuses this year alone, they wouldn't dare leave it in this country to be subjected to taxes. And yet, here they are taking away alot of your homes in foreclosure. The feds need to bring back the Glass-Steagall Act in full force, or Nationalize all the banks, and send the execs to prison for tax evasion and fraud.

[kamact]

11:39 AM on 01/17/2011

Should be interesting and get us closer to a tipping point

[Earl]

11:05 AM on 01/17/2011

From the article:
"The names on the CDs will not be made public, just as a much shorter list of 15 clients that Elmer handed to WikiLeaks in 2008 has remained hitherto undisclosed by the organisation headed by Julian Assange..."

[montn2]

10:12 AM on 01/17/2011

Cannot wait to see the American politicians and corporations who have been cheating the treasury while we peons struggle to pay our share. About time they are exposed. Couple this with the UBS exposure and we are finally getting to see the cheats, who they are and how much they have stolen. Hope the IRS nails every one of them. Secret accounts everywhere should be exposed -- hope the whistle blowing trend continues.

[joseph449008]

09:25 AM on 01/17/2011

Recall that Assange's Swiss bank account was closed, allegedly for providing false information about his place of residence. I guess we'll see if Swiss banks generally apply these types of high standards to all their accounts.

[dbg2]

09:02 AM on 01/17/2011

Hmmm I believe BofA has a large operation in the Cayman Islands ... I would love to hear about it

[montn2]

10:17 AM on 01/17/2011

I was in the Caymans and rode by the address the crooks use -- amazing -- the building is very small, could not possibly hold offices for all the companies claiming a presence. It is a sham.

[Earl]

08:43 AM on 01/17/2011

2000 is ever better LOL