There’s a new angle to the WikiLeaks story. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has promised to reveal confidential tax details of 2,000 prominent individuals to the public. One Rudolph Elmer, a Swiss Banker who says that this could reveal large-scale cases of tax evasion and money laundering, is passing on the confidential details to Assange.
Elmer was formerly a senior executive at Swiss bank Julius Baer. Now based in the Cayman Islands, Elmer’s apparent motivation for passing on the details is that he wants “to educate society” about how tax revenues are lost because of money being laundered into offshore accounts. Elmer claims to be against the system and says that this is his effort to educate people about the damaging effects of the system on society.
Elmer, however, has not revealed anything about the data that was handed over to Assange on two CDs. Neither the time period nor any names were revealed with Elmer citing the need for investigation before the information enters the public domain.
The handing over of the CDs took place in full view of the press at London’s Frontline Club. The press conference marked Assange’s first public appearance since December when he got bail over the sexual assault case that has been dogging him. The man who was famously referred to as a high-tech terrorist by United States Vice-president Joe Biden will be passing the information to the Serious Fraud Office before publishing it on WikiLeaks. It could take about two weeks or so for the information to be released on the whistleblower’s site.
Via: Guardian.co.uk
