ZURICH - a Swiss banker who cheats claims handed WikiLeaks rich tax details acknowledged Wednesday he did errors in its effort to expose the world offshore tax evasion.
Minutes before, it was recognized guilty of coercion and break Switzerland strict banking secrecy laws, Rudolf Elmer said his campaign of nine years against the former employer Bank Julius Baer is marked by faux pas.
"I made big errors I confess that," he told journalists. "I would not say I'm a hero, but not that I am a traitor."
Zurich prosecutors argued that Elmer stole data client after from his employment at branch of Cayman Islands of Julius Baer and then tried to extort money from bank based in Switzerland and its executives. Elmer, 55, says that he was persecuted by the Bank.
"I would not say it was revenge, but I defended myself", he told journalists. "It's human nature."
Elmer said that he attempted to expose a generalized system of tax evasion by wealthy businessmen and politicians.
Sebastian Aeppli of the regional court of Zurich has fined Elmer more than 6 000 CHF ($6,260), payable if it violates again in two years. But the judge dismissed the application for continuation of Elmer eight months imprisonment. The decision may be appealed.
The case has generated strong interest abroad because of the link to WikiLeaks and Switzerland, where the Bank client privacy has a special place in the national psyche.
Several banks in Switzerland and the Liechtenstein suffered embarrassing data leaks in recent years — some in the hands of disgruntled employees. Foreign tax authorities seized on pressure Switzerland leaks in the relaxation of its rules of banking secrecy.
In his court appearance Wednesday, Elmer admitted sending threatening messages to certain bank officials, but he insisted that he had made after the Bank was dismissed from his post as chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands and then intimidated him.
He has refused to issue a threat of bomb against the Bank, but admitted threatening to send information about offshore customers exclusive taxing authorities in Switzerland, Great Britain and the United States.
Prosecutors acknowledged that information had allowed authorities to launch at least one case of tax evasion.
Elmer was drawn in 2002 after refusing to take a lie detector test on the Cayman Islands, where he worked for the Bank for eight years. Prosecutors claimed that he spent the next years moving between the Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Germany, Austria and Maurice. Sometimes is blamed for having offered to sell the return data theft at Julius Baer, sometimes it threatened to denounce what he describes as "contrary to ethics or even criminal behavior" by senior management of the Bank.
«More professionally, I rose at Julius Baer, I became more involved in illegal activities who needs me,» he told the Court.
The Bank denied wrongdoing.
Anti-corruption experts have questioned whether the Elmer isn't individual anger simply attempts to interfere with his former employer.
"Elmer tried to pose as an informant for a long time", said Daniel Thelesklaf, Director of the Basel Institute on governance, a think tank.
Yet the case helped stimulate the discussion in Switzerland why country banks set up branches on the Caribbean Islands otherwise help clients exploit weaknesses of the tax, said Thelesklaf.
Monday, Elmer hosted a spectacular ceremony in London, where he provided more data on two CD WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, stating the names of disks contained 2,000 rich account holders.
"WikiLeaks should very carefully examine the CD because they cannot afford false documents online," said Thelesklaf.
Prosecutors argued Wednesday that London WikiLeaks of Elmer trip is an example of its persistent efforts to illegally distribute confidential information.
At the beginning of 2008, a US judge closed WikiLeaks two weeks after a complaint by Julius Baer on Elmer, marking the only time where spill secret website was forced offline for a considerable time.
