Swiss banker hands over details of shady practices used toconceal wealth
Tomorrow morning, the former banker Rudolf Elmer will appearbefore a court in Zurich for the start of a criminal trial thatcould see him bankrupted and imprisoned.
His alleged crime is to have broken Switzerland's notorioussecrecy laws by daring to blow the whistle on some of the shadypractices used by the country's banking industry to hide clients'wealth. The trial is the culmination of an eight-year battle thathas pitched one man against Switzerland's economic mainstay - thecountry's lucrative financial system.
But even before proceedings began, Mr Elmer had one final card toplay. Yesterday the 55-year-old former employee of Julius Baer Banktravelled to London to hand WikiLeaks what he claimed were furtherdocuments detailing attempts by wealthy elites, includingpoliticians, celebrities and major corporations, to avoid payingtax.
Although he refused to give details about who or which companieswere mentioned on the DVDs, he claimed to be in possession ofdetails of more than 2,000 account holders who had used offshore taxhavens to keep money out of reach of the taxman.
"I think I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," hesaid in a press conference alongside Julian Assange - the first timethe WikiLeaks founder has put his seal of approval on a new projectsince releasing thousands of secret American embassy cables. "I amagainst the system. I know how it works and I know the day-to-daybusiness. I wanted to let society know what I know. It is damagingour society." For Mr Assange, who clearly has no intention oflowering his public profile as he fights his own legal battles, thehandover was a moment of Schadenfreude. Key banking organisationshave refused to process donations to WikiLeaks since the US cableswere released, and the 39-year-old lost little time in pointing outhow pleased he was to be receiving documents that could embarrassthat system.
"In our case we have been economically censored by Visa,Moneybookers, Bank of America, PayPal, Amazon, Western Union, and soon," he said. "We will treat [Mr Elmer's] information like all otherinformation we get. There will be a full revelation." Yesterday'smeeting was a partnership come full circle, as it was Mr Elmer whofirst put WikiLeaks on the international map. Until he was fired in2002, he had worked as chief operating and compliance officer forJulius Baer in the Cayman Islands.
He had become increasingly convinced that Swiss secrecy laws aredesigned to ensure that Swiss bankers continue to reap massiveprofits by helping corporations, drugs traffickers, and corruptpoliticians hide away thousands of billions of untaxed dollars.
In 2008 he used WikiLeaks to make publicly available a mass ofincriminating Julius Baer documents, memos and communications withits clients. The bank sued WikiLeaks in California and obtained aninjunction ordering its shutdown. But, after a huge campaign byAmerican civil liberties and newspaper groups, the California judgereversed his own injunction. Far from reinforcing secrecy, JuliusBaer had shot itself in the foot.
The win brought WikiLeaks international attention and powerfulallies in America, leading to the slew of US-orientated leaks thathave since made it public enemy No 1 in Washington.
In an interview with The Independent, Mr Elmer said his familyhad been stalked and he had received threatening emails. One read:"We will send the guys again to give you a hard time if y ever talkabout the bank bussiness [sic]". Another, apparently from a publicinternet terminal nearby his home read: "We are here. Your daughterwill be killed if you do not stop..."
Responding to yesterday's press conference with WikiLeaks, JuliusBaer's spokesperson, Jan Vonder Muehll, said: "He didn't attack us -he explicitly targeted 'the system'."
Even so, Mr Elmer says he is looking forward to his trial, whichhe hopes will shed an uncomfortable spotlight on Article 47 of theSwiss banking law - the confidentiality clause that is so broad evenpublic officials fear prosecution if they act on a whistle-blower'sinformation.
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