WikiLeaks to receive Swiss bank account details from whistleblower

 
 

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via Editors Weblog by Emma Heald on 1/17/11

Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer intends to hand over offshore bank account details of 2,000 "high net worth individuals" and corporations to WikiLeaks today, the Observer reported yesterday. Elmer plans present the bank details to a representative from WikiLeaks at the Frontline Club in London during a press conference starting at 11.15am, the club's site said.

Elmer is due to go on trial this week in Switzerland, having been in exile in Mauritius. He is a former chief operating officer of the Grand Cayman office of the Swiss Julius Baer bank, which accuses him of stealing information, the Observer said, and he is charged with breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws, forging documents and sending threatening messages. The individuals and companies involved in the leak have been using secrecy as a screen to hide behind in order to avoid paying tax, Elmer believes. He told the Observer that about 40 politicians were included in the list.

The names of those mentioned will not be made public, the Observer said. A shorter list of clients that Elmer gave to WikiLeaks in 2008 was seen by the Guardian, and by the US Internal Revenue Service, but has not been published online.

Meanwhile, the debate over and fallout following WikiLeaks's Cablegate release, continues, as does discussion over the fate of founder Julian Assange. Cables from the US ambassador to Tunisia, released by WikiLeaks and partner publications, have been cited by some as contributing to the impetus behind the recent uprising.

Writing in the Guardian, John Kampfner, chief executive of the Index on Censorship, suggests that the "hysterical response" of many in the US to the WikiLeaks controversy is playing into the hands of the Kremlin, the Chinese Communist party and other dictators as it is implying a negative attitude towards Internet freedom. He also argues that the "information relationship has shifted, but the power relationship has surely not. We have more knowledge, but are we able to, do we have time to, indeed do we really want to act on it?"

Assange told the New Statesman that he had 'insurance' files which would be released if something happened to him or WikiLeaks. He said that there were 504 cables on one broadcasting organisation and cables on Murdoch and News Corp.

Source: Guardian (1), (2), Observer, Frontline Club, New Statesman

 
 

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