Former Swiss banking exec is latest WikiLeaks informant

The Swiss banking system is a legendary haven for anyone keen to conceal their identities, or the details of their financial dealings, behind the legal protections of the country's secretive financial order. However, some of these high-flying financiers might be feeling a little uneasy today: A former Swiss bank executive has released a cache of sensitive Swiss financial information to WikiLeaks.

The former banker, Rudolf M. Elmer -- who had previously captained the Cayman Islands office of the Swiss bank Julius Baer -- said at a press conference today in London that he has turned over incriminating documents on thousands of individuals and businesses to Julian Assange's controversial outfit. Elmer says that many of the customers exposed in the data dump are "pillars of society" from around the world -- "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates — from both sides of the Atlantic."

Reports the New York Times:

Mr. Assange said that WikiLeaks would verify and release the information, including the names, in as little as two weeks. He suggested possible partnerships with financial news organizations and said he would consider turning the information over to Britain's Serious Fraud Office, a government agency that investigates financial corruption.

Mr. Elmer said he had turned to WikiLeaks to educate society about what he considers an unfair system designed to serve the rich and aid money launderers after his offers to provide the data to universities and governments were spurned and, in his opinion, the Swiss media failed to cover the substance of his allegations. "The man in the street needs to know how this system works," he said, referring to the offshore trusts that many "high net worth individuals" across the world use to evade taxes.

His former employers released a statement on Friday denying all wrongdoing and suggesting that Mr. Elmer's aim was to "discredit Julius Baer as well as clients in the eyes of the public." It accused him of using falsified documents and spreading "baseless accusations" and passing on "unlawfully acquired, respectively retained, documents to the media, and later also to WikiLeaks."

(Photo of Assange and Elmer: AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)