WIKILEAKS

Swiss Bank Leaker Arrested

For violating country’s strict secrecy laws.

A Swiss banker who on Monday handed over banking records to WikiLeaks was arrested Wednesday, officials said. Rudolf Elmer, the former director of Julius-Baer Bank’s branch on the Cayman Islands, gave Julian Assange two CDs with information regarding rich tax evaders. Assange said WikiLeaks could release the secret Swiss banking records in “a matter of weeks.” Around 2,000 clients’ records were included, Elmer said, because he could not determine how many people were involved. Switzerland, known for its strict banking-secrecy laws, arrested Elmer for making public the bank customer data. Elmer describes himself as an activist/reformer, and said he wanted to “let society know what I do and how this system works, because it is damaging our society in the way that money is moved.”