Swiss whistle blower hands bank data to WikiLeaks

Former banker hands over data on 2,000 offshore accounts, most of the material already handed over to governments.

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday received data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders from a former Swiss private banker.

The two CDs handed over by Rudolf Elmer, who once headed the office of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands, are said to contain names and account information of 2000 individuals who parked their money offshore.

Speaking to the media, Elmer said that he wanted to disclose details of mass tax evasion. He is scheduled to go on trial in Switzerland on Wednesday for breaching bank secrecy.

On Sunday, Elmer told Reuters that he hoped his appearance at the news conference would both call attention to offshore financial abuses and promote WikiLeaks as a mechanism for other whistleblowers to air their stories.

"The main thing is educating society about offshore abuses and how they work," he said.

"I believe in the system of WikiLeaks," Elmer continued.

"Such a thing has to exist. WikiLeaks was my last hope. I couldn't get my message out. WikiLeaks may be the only means to get my message out to society. I would like to help get WikiLeaks back on track again."

Neither Elmer nor his lawyer are expected to release any specific information about the identities of the individuals named in the material Elmer plans to hand over to Assange.

Some, if not most, of the material has already been handed over to government authorities in countries where the account holders are believed to reside.

Elmer told the Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag that the data involved multimillionaires, international companies and hedge funds from countries including the United States, Germany and Britain.

He said the data came from at least three financial institutions, including Julius Baer, covered the period from 1990 to 2009, and included documents leaked to him from other whistleblowers.

Sources close to the whistleblower said he fears that any release of names could compromise official investigations which might be under way into the contents of the material.

In addition to information from Baer bank, the data Elmer has handed to WikiLeaks may also relate to financial dealings at two other banks, one of them South African, the sources said.

The sources said Elmer has some expectation that WikiLeaks will vet and even investigate the material before making it public on the internet.

Elmer is facing trial in Zurich for allegedly violating tough Swiss bank secrecy rules.

He and his lawyer maintain that the case is unfair because the material that he allegedly leaked -- including some material on alleged offshore tax evasion abuses already published by WikiLeaks -- originated in the Cayman Islands, where Swiss authorities arguably lack jurisdiction.

Elmer also maintains that the allegations against him relate to him allegedly violating bank secrecy rules by making financial records available to Switzerland's own tax authorities.