WikiLeaks to unlock Swiss banking secrets

The WikiLeaks website has been handed information on about 2,000 offshore banking clients of the Swiss bank Julius Baer. It is unclear whether this will provide tangible evidence of tax evasion. 

Former bank employee Rudolf Elmer who has made the data available to WikiLeaks has been persued by his ex-employer for breaching banking secrecy. Elmer left the bank in 2002. 

There could be some embarrassment if any account holders' identities can be confirmed from the data leaked; there is some speculation in the media that contain the bank details of politicians, corporations and multimillionaires. 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says that he might hand over some of the material to Britain's Serious Fraud Office. UK offshore account holders who are affected by this new may nevertheless excape any potential prosecution if they are eligible to take advantage of Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility which runs on until 2015.

Source: Reuters Newsagency