WikiLeaks To Publish Documents About Tax Details of 2,000 Wealthy People
Julian Assange, the founder of the whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks, said he would make public confidential tax data about 2,000 important and wealthy people, after the information was received from a Swiss banker, who claims that it contains information about money laundering and tax evasion.
Rudolf Elmer, former senior executive at a Swiss bank called Julius Baer, based in Cayman Islands, handed the documents to WikiLeaks in London, saying that he did this as a means to educate society about tax revenue loss because of offshore banks and money laundering.
Elmer said he was against the system, which continues to work only because it damages society, and that he had a right to stand up against it as a banker.
The former banker is to appear on Wednesday before a Swiss court where he stands accused of violating the secrecy of Swiss banking system, forging documents and sending threatening messages to former employers. He denied all accusations.
Elmer refused to comment on the period the evidence he has covers, and also to give the names of individuals or companies involved.
The documents he handed to the WikiLeaks are contained on two compact discs.
Assange, who made his public appearance after being released on bail in December 2010, said the documents he possessed would be given to Serious Fraud Office for verification, and would be made public on the site as soon as the data is confirmed, within a couple of weeks.
Assange said that the activity of WikiLeaks would continue, although the site was not fully functional yet, and the material he received was so high it takes time to sort out.
He said that the U.S. diplomatic cables would continue to be published and promised to publish something on a “U.S. bank,” probably the Bank of America.
Elmer said he chose to give the documents to WikiLeaks after being dismissed by the Swiss media and ignored by the universities where he showed them.
In 2008, he released a small amount of such documents on WikiLeaks, but though the site never published the documents the bank succeeded in shutting down for a brief period WikiLeaks.
The data contained information about wealthy individuals who placed money on trusts to legally avoid taxation, and cases which showed when they used the trust money as if it were theirs.
In a statement issued on Friday, the bank said Elmer’s purpose is to discredit the bank and its activities.
