GENEVA - THE founder of whistleblower site WikiLeaks attacked Switzerland on Sunday for arresting a Swiss banker on suspicion of breaching banking secrecy instead of investigating the tax evasion he said he had uncovered.
In an interview published in the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag, Julian Assange, whose website has angered Washington by releasing confidential US diplomatic cables, said Switzerland's actions were drawing renewed international attention to its controversial banking practices.
On Friday the Swiss prosecutor's office said former banker Rudolf Elmer would be detained over the weekend after police questioned him about breaking Swiss banking secrecy laws. A judge will decide on Monday whether to remand him for longer.
Police took Elmer into custody on Jan 19 after he handed computer discs to Assange for WikiLeaks at a news conference in London earlier in the week. Elmer indicated the CDs contained details of as many as 2,000 offshore bank accounts.
'Mr. Elmer is in prison because he has revealed a criminal offshore system of tax evasion in which Swiss banks play a leading role,' Assange was quoted as saying in an interview.
'Instead of investigating these offshore structures and going after the tax evaders, the authorities are going after Mr Elmer,' he said. The newspaper, quoting Assange in German, said it had received his comments via a WikiLeaks intermediary. -- REUTERS
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