CNN.com
1/17/2011
London (CNN) — A Swiss whistle-blower Monday handed over what he said were secret Swiss banking records to WikiLeaks, the website dedicated to revealing secrets.
Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer handed two discs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a news conference in London.
WikiLeaks could release the secret Swiss banking records in “a matter of weeks” if it can process them quickly enough, Assange said.
Elmer said he would not reveal the names in the records and said he was unable to say how many people were involved.
He said about 2,000 clients’ records were included, but that because of the way trusts and corporations are set up, he could not determine how many individuals were involved.
Elmer describes himself as an activist/reformer/banker.
“I think, as a banker, I do have the right to stand up if something is wrong,” he said Monday, explaining why he was giving the documents to the website.
Elmer is due to go on trial Wednesday in Switzerland for violating the country’s banking secrecy regulations…
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