ALLIANCE FO§ DEMOCRACY

Heaven on Earth

Who would not want to have a place where they could keep everything they have earned on the side, or even legal obtained, in secrecy for all time? Only people who hate money, who hardly exist anymore in a world that runs on money, or people who never have any money anyway. There must be a lot of them in a world in which a handful of people possess all of the capital while the rest go without. Those who hoard large amounts prefer to keep it in secret places, like banks, such as those in Switzerland. The secrecy in Swiss banks about who their customers are and how much money they keep there is legendary. This makes the attacks on Julius Bär banking group employee Rudolf Elmer all the more reprehensible. Elmer was not the first Swiss banker to act on customer data but he drew a lot of media attention by disclosing it to Wikileaks. Elmer reported that 40 German politicians also held accounts in Switzerland. Whether they reported these accounts to tax authorities, we don’t know. Several complaints were brought against Elmer and in the most recent case he was fined 45,000 francs (and placed on probation) for disclosing bank information in 2008. At different times, several private investigators were hired to investigate Elmer. However, no proof was found that Elmer had handed over data in 2011. As the cameras rolled, Elmer handed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two CDs, which Elmer said contained information about roughly 2,000 tax evaders. He was subsequently arrested in Switzerland and held for several months in pre-trial detention. Elmer claimed in court that the CDs were actually blank. The content of the CDs could no longer be determined, the judge stated in his ruling.
Auditor Rudolf Elmer once worked in a Bär bank on the Cayman Islands. There, he noticed irregularities and raised concerns about them which went unheeded. Only after superiors or supervisors failed to act did Elmer pass on what he knew to Assange. He sees himself as a whistleblower who wants to disclose abuses.
The defence says the charges from 2008 are time barred and intends to appeal the fine. The prosecutor had sought three-and-a-half years in prison and professional disqualification. Elmer was simply seeking revenge on his former employer, the prosecutor alleged. Elmer has been ordered to pay the 25,000 francs in court costs (€25,000). The judge ruled that his public appearance with Assange in London is what led to his trial.