WikiLeaks informant faces trial
Source: Agencies |
January 12, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A SWISS banker whose actions caused a US judge to briefly shut down WikiLeaks three years ago faces trial in Switzerland for allegedly distributing confidential documents showing how his former employer helped rich clients dodge taxes.
The case appears to be the first time a WikiLeaks informant will go on trial. It comes as the US government also is trying to prosecute individuals linked to the website for publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, has been ordered to appear before a Zurich regional court on January 19 to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws. If convicted he could be fined and sentenced up to three years in prison.
Elmer said he will admit certain counts of coercion, but insisted he didn't break Swiss banking secrecy laws because the files he distributed belonged to a Julius Baer subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, where he worked for the bank for eight years.
"This data wasn't subject to Swiss banking secrecy," he said on Monday.
Swiss financial newspaper Cash was among those that in 2005 received a copy of a CD containing 170 megabytes of data on Julius Baer's Cayman operations. The files reportedly showed the bank helped its clients set up secret offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.
Elmer denied giving the files to Cash, but said he did distribute the CD to several media outlets and tax authorities. He later uploaded some of the same information to WikiLeaks, prompting a US judge to shut down the website after Julius Baer claimed Elmer had engaged in "unlawful dissemination of stolen bank records and personal account information of its customers."
The bank dropped its US lawsuit.
The case appears to be the first time a WikiLeaks informant will go on trial. It comes as the US government also is trying to prosecute individuals linked to the website for publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based Bank Julius Baer, has been ordered to appear before a Zurich regional court on January 19 to answer charges of coercion and violating Switzerland's strict banking secrecy laws. If convicted he could be fined and sentenced up to three years in prison.
Elmer said he will admit certain counts of coercion, but insisted he didn't break Swiss banking secrecy laws because the files he distributed belonged to a Julius Baer subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, where he worked for the bank for eight years.
"This data wasn't subject to Swiss banking secrecy," he said on Monday.
Swiss financial newspaper Cash was among those that in 2005 received a copy of a CD containing 170 megabytes of data on Julius Baer's Cayman operations. The files reportedly showed the bank helped its clients set up secret offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes.
Elmer denied giving the files to Cash, but said he did distribute the CD to several media outlets and tax authorities. He later uploaded some of the same information to WikiLeaks, prompting a US judge to shut down the website after Julius Baer claimed Elmer had engaged in "unlawful dissemination of stolen bank records and personal account information of its customers."
The bank dropped its US lawsuit.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
