Tech | January 17, 2011 | 20 comments

Ex-Swiss banker hands over account files to WikiLeaks

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/17/AR2011011701134.html

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Mcellie
On Wednesday Rudolf Elmer is due in court for breaking the strict secrecy laws for banking in Switzerland, but today he is at a news conference at the Frontline Club where he is handing over more information on tax evasion to Wikileaks.

"I'm against the system. I know how the system works," said the banker at the press conference. He says a sophisticated network exists to funnel illicit money into secret offshore accounts."-BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12205690

It is reported the information being handed over covers companies, multinationals, financial firms, celebrities, politicians and wealthy individuals from many different countries.

Rudolf Elmer explained the pressure on him and is family after he was first caught being a whistle blower, stating when in prison for 30days he was offered money to stay silent.

"He told the Observer newspaper he planned to disclose the new set of files to expose activities in offshore financial centers. "The one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes," he was quoted as telling the newspaper. "-Washington Post

twit pic of the hand over between Rudolf and Julian: http://twitpic.com/3qv8h1
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20 comments // Ex-Swiss banker hands over account files to WikiLeaks

  • Robotic091
  • EvilDoer
  • Itsbatman_Durr
    • 0
      Itsbatman_Durr  

    • this again is just smoke and mirrors. of course the big boys know this. everyone knows this it isnt a secret. they are just going to release some names, enough to make us go WOW and sacrifice their judas goats and nothing will change

    • 2 years ago
  • Incredulous
  • KSirys
  • bailey78
  • musicjohnny
  • remanns
  • existentialist
    • -4
      existentialist  

    • Talk about invasion of privacy. It is one thing to release government documents, but much of this information deals with private individuals and companies. Not that I am a big privacy advocate, but I don't see how some one could be for this and against "big brother."

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • +4
      Saladin  
    • existentialist:

      Boo hoo I say. This is the age of the internet, privacy doesn't exist

      Plus, I'm really not getting choked up because some corrupt, rich assholes are going to have their dirty laundry aired.

      It's a small price to pay to reveal the truth.

    • 2 years ago
  • n537
    • +1
      n537  
    • existentialist:

      If this were really an issue with privacy I don't think the bankers would be bribing elmer for silence. They would probably have attacked it as a violation of privacy right off the back, but instead they have a secret conversation with elmer to shut him up and keep this out of the news; so much for their plans, those assholes. I can't wait to see what they dig up, not to say i'll be very surprised by what they find.

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • existentialist
    • 0
      existentialist  
    • Saladin:

      Like I said, I am not a privacy advocate and I could care less. But as a community current.com seems to favor peoples ability to have secrets and privacy. This site is overwhelming anti-big brother and corporate snooping. Also, tax evasion is arguable a victimless crime (it might actually save people with less money going towards the war machine) and many people on this site also argue about the unlawfulness of the US tax system with a good group of people on this site against taxes all together.

      Imagine he was turning over documents incriminating a bunch of people for marijuana use. In that case I am sure this entire site would outraged about the invasion of privacy.

      After all, if I choose to evade taxes because I believe they are immoral (or for whatever reason I disagree with them), isn't that my choice? Honestly, the richer you are the more disproportionately you are taxed, at least in the US, so the rich are actually more justified in tax evasion.

    • 2 years ago
  • existentialist
    • 0
      existentialist  
    • n537:

      If someone invaded my privacy and obtained incriminating evidence against me, I might as well try to convince or bribe them not to reveal it. That doesn't change the fact that there was a breach of privacy.

    • 2 years ago
  • existentialist
  • n537
    • 0
      n537  
    • Image
    • existentialist:

      http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/16/swiss-whistleblower-rudolf-elmer-ban...

      If someone invades your privacy, as an individual protected somewhat by the constitution, incriminating evidence can be dismissed. Bribing someone to keep quiet, especially a former employee of two decades, appears very incriminating. And we are not talking bags o weed we're talking about billions and billions of money being laundered and hoarded while people around the world are starving and losing their homes.

      Tax Evasion is not a victimless crime. If it is than maybe we should all stop throwing 40% of our income away, it's not like we're getting our money's worth anyway. Oh wait but we can't because their are severe consequences of evading taxes like loosing property, privacy and peace of mind.

      Furthermore we're not talking about going into joe shmoes account, a lot of these account holders are Corporations and Politicians, who should be accountable of following the same bullshit they make their serfs follow.

      A right to privacy is important but lets be honest our lives aren't that private or inaccessible. Our rights are being taken from underneath us like the WELCOME mat in front of our foreclosed homes. Most if not all the people doing the collecting have Swiss Bank Accounts.

    • 2 years ago
  • existentialist
    • 0
      existentialist  
    • n537:

      I am sure many of the men Elmer is working to expose are indeed criminals. I am not arguing that they are not. I am just saying that you can not justify an invasion of privacy just because a person is rich or high-profile without saying that it is also okay to invade the privacy of all people, whether middle-class, rich or poor. How many legit accounts do you think that Elmer snooped into to find the 2000 people he wishes to expose? Is it justifiable for a person to spy on and intrude on 10,000 innocent people if he exposes 2000 criminals? What about a million people to expose 200,000 people? You can't laud this and advocate privacy rights.

      If our government took more fiscal and moral responsibility, I might agree that tax invasion wasn't a victimless crime. On this I can not speak for all the countries in which the threatened individuals reside in, but it is most likely true that their respective governments are just as greedy and bloodthirsty as ours can be. Face it, our country is not going to be any better off with the tax dollars these guys haven't paid. It would just be more money for war and bureaucrat's wallets. Also, by victimless crime, I mean crimes that harm no one but possibly the "criminal" them self. Also you can't use legal consequences as an argument against victimless crime. That would be like saying drug use isn't a victimless crime because you can get arrested.

      One last thing, if a person's house was foreclosed on and they didn't take their welcome-mat with them, that is their own damn fault, lol.

    • 2 years ago
  • figgdimension
  • remanns
  • adamvelvetu
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