Swiss Banker Blows Whistle on Tax Evasion

[groovedaddy]

From his home in the quiet village of Rorbas, outside Zurich, Rudolf M. Elmer is chipping away at the centuries-old traditions of Swiss banking secrecy.

Mr. Elmer, who ran the Caribbean operations of the Swiss bank Julius Baer for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002, moved to Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and began parceling out to global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer.

Now back in his native country, he continues to disclose the inner workings of Julius Baer — one of many Swiss institutions that investigators say help clients evade billions of dollars in taxes by routing money through offshore havens in the Caribbean and Switzerland.

“It is a global problem, and I am only the messenger who provides the bad news, or even better, the truth,” Mr. Elmer, 54, wrote in a recent e-mail message. “Offshore tax evasion is the biggest theft among societies and neighbor states in this world.”

He said that he would fly on Tuesday to Düsseldorf, Germany, where the tax authorities are putting him up in a five-star hotel as he prepares to divulge client secrets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/business/19whistle.html?th&emc=th

[glowing]

1. Let's hope the flight lands upright and safe.

[cascadiance]

2. Let's hope he doesn't get FUCKED like Bradley Birkenfeld did!

He has to make sure he measures how much he "surrenders" to the authority of those who would turn around and screw him for going after the power mongers!