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Swiss banker gives A/C details of 2,000 super rich to Assange

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Google Oneindia News

London, Jan 17 (PTI) Names of 2,000 secret Swissaccount holders, including individuals and corporates fromAsia, US and Britain, were today handed over by a former Swissbanker to WikiLeaks for being made public.

There was no indication whether any Indian accountholder figure in the list since WikiLeaks founder JulianAssange who received the two discs containing the documentssaid that he would make it public in the future.

Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Swiss-based BankJulius Baer, said the account holders include celebrities,business leaders and lawmakers.

Assange, fighting cases to extradite him to Sweden toface sex charges, appeared alongside Elmer said he will exposeattempts by these business leaders, corporations and lawmakersto evade tax payments.

"We will treat this information like all otherinformation we get," Assange said. "There will be a fullrevelation."

According to a report in Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag,the data covers multinationals, financial firms and wealthyindividuals from many countries, including the UK, US andGermany, and covers the period 1990-2009.

"The one thing on which I am absolutely clear is thatthe banks know, and the big boys know, that money is beingsecreted away for tax evasion purposes," Elmer told Observernewspaper.

He said the files being handed over to whistle-blowersite WikiLeaks exposed activities in offshore financialcentres.

At the press briefing, Assange said that, with hisorganisation focussed on the publication of its cache of about250,000 diplomatic cables, it could be several weeks beforeElmer''s files are reviewed and posted in the WikiLeakswebsite.

The Swiss banker has previously leaked bankingdocuments to the secret-spilling site and told journaliststhat he wanted to expose the offshore banking system.

"I want to let society know how this system works," hesaid. "It''s damaging society."

The banker released the files two days before he isdue to appear before a Zurich regional court to answer chargesof coercion and violating Switzerland''s strict banking secrecylaws.

Elmer said he would not reveal what specifically wasin the documents, and would not disclose "individual companiesor individual names" of the account holders.

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