LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange vowed to publish secret details of offshore accounts after a Swiss banking whistleblower handed over data Monday on 2,000 purportedly tax-dodging individuals and firms. Former Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer, who worked for eight years in the Cayman Islands, a renowned offshore tax haven in the Caribbean, personally gave Assange two CDs of data at a London press conference. Elmer said he wanted the world to know the truth about money concealed in offshore accounts and the systems in place to keep it secret. He handed over the data at the Frontline Club - WikiLeaks' British HQ - as Assange put in a rare appearance away from the remote country house of the club's founder, where he has been bailed to live while he awaits extradition proceedings. “I am here today to support him,” Assange told reporters. “He is a whistleblower and he has important things to say.” The Australian promised “full revelation” of the data but said it would be weeks before any of the information could be checked and published by the WikiLeaks website. Elmer declined to give the names of those on the CDs. – Agence France
