Zurich, January 19
A Swiss banker who claims to have handed WikiLeaks details of rich tax evaders went on trial today to answer charges of coercion and breaking Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy laws.

Zurich prosecutors allege that Rudolf Elmer stole client data after being fired from his job at the Cayman Islands branch of Julius Baer, and then tried to extort money from the Swiss-based bank and its senior executives.

Prosecutor Alexandra Bergmann also alleges that Elmer, 55, illegally gave details on the bank’s offshore clients to tax authorities, media and later WikiLeaks.

On Monday, Elmer staged a dramatic ceremony in London, where he handed over two more data CDs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Elmer claimed the disks contained names of 2,000 wealthy account holders, but refused to give details of the companies or individuals involved.

The case has generated intense interest abroad because of the link to WikiLeaks, and in Switzerland, where bank client privacy has a special place in the national psyche.

Several Swiss banks including UBS AG and Credit Suisse Group have suffered embarrassing data leaks in recent years, some at the hands of disgruntled employees.

Prosecutors are calling for an eight-month sentence and fine for what Julius Baer says was a vendetta by a disgruntled employee against it. Elmer claims he was trying to expose a widespread system of tax evasion by rich businesspeople and politicians.

Elmer’s actions caused a US judge to shut down WikiLeaks for two weeks in early 2008, marking the only time that the secrecy-spilling website has been forced offline for a significant amount of time.

Since then, WikiLeaks has shot into public consciousness for publishing thousands of secret US military and diplomatic files.

US authorities are currently trying to build a legal case against WikiLeaks and some of its collaborators, claiming the release of the files puts lives at risk. Appearing before a single judge at Zurich’s administrative court today, Elmer admitted sending threatening messages to some bank officials, but insisted he had done so after the bank fired him from his job at its Cayman Islands branch and then intimidated him.

“I was in an extreme situation,” he said. “It’s logical that I developed a defense strategy.” He denied issuing a bomb threat against the bank, but admitted threatening to send details of the bank’s exclusive offshore clients to tax authorities in Switzerland, Britain and the United States. — AP

London, January 19
South African police chief General Bheki Cele has claimed that his detectives have uncovered a motive which explains why NRI businessman Shrien Dewani allegedly killed his bride while on honeymoon in Cape Town and plans to disclose it at the extradition hearing here tomorrow.

General Cele told the country’s e.tv news channel that his officers now know why Dewani commissioned two hitmen to kill his wife Anni Dewani on November 13 last year. However, he refused to give away the alleged motive, saying that “it will be revealed at an extradition hearing scheduled to take place in London this Thursday.”

Anni Dewani, 28, was killed after the taxi she and her husband were travelling in was hijacked as it passed through a dirt poor township outside Cape Town.

Although four South Africans have been arrested in connection with the crime - and one sentenced to 18 years in jail - the country’s police insist the plot was ‘masterminded’ by Dewani himself.

Dewani, who is currently on bail in Britain, denies his involvement. According to a report in The Daily Mail, Dewani may return to South Africa to face trial over taxi gun murder of his honeymoon bride. His supporters point out that the South Africans have failed to provide even a flimsy motive which would explain why he allegedly killed his wife.

They also claim that the South Africans’ naming of Dewani as a suspect is a ploy to detract attention from the country’s appalling crime rate.

General Cele is a controversial, outspoken figure in South Africa. A career politician, he had no policing experience before taking on the top cop’s role last year. Four days after Anni was killed, he insisted that Dewani was ‘not a suspect’ in the case. He later admitted that he had been lying.

And after Dewani was formally named as a suspect, the policeman described him as ‘a monkey who came all the way from London to murder his wife’. The commissioner’s comments are likely to be used by Dewani’s defence team as evidence that he would not get a fair trial in South Africa.

Tlali Tlali, spokesman for South Africa’s Ministry of Justice, described the murder case again as a ‘puzzle’, the pieces of which the country’s detectives are still putting together. — PTI 

London, January 19
Britain today said the Indian diplomat accused of assaulting his wife is required to leave the country along with his family. Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office today said it has sent a Note Verbale to the Indian High Commission yesterday acknowledging Indian government’s decision to transfer senior diplomat Anil Verma back to Delhi, noting that Verma and his dependants are required to leave the UK.

An FCO spokesperson today said: “We can confirm that we formally requested the waiver of diplomatic immunity for a diplomat posted at the Indian High Commission in London”.

“In a Note Verbale sent to the Indian High Commission on January 18 we have acknowledged the Indian Government’s decision to transfer Verma back to Delhi and noted that Verma and his dependants are required to leave the UK”.

Asked to comment on reports that Paromita had sought asylum in the UK, a Home Office spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on individual asylum application”. — PTI

Islamabad, January 19
A powerful earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale that hit a remote area of southwest Pakistan today shook the ground from Delhi to Dubai, damaging about 200 structures though there were no reports of direct casualties.

However, two women - one in Jacobabad in Sindh province and another at Quetta in Balochistan - died of heart attacks during the quake while three persons were taken to hospital at Multan in Punjab after suffering cardiac arrest, Geo News channel reported.

Initial reports indicated that around 200 mud houses near the epicentre of the quake in Balochistan province were damaged though there were no reports of loss of lives, National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Nadeem Ahmed said.

The earthquake occurred at 1:23 am Pakistan time at a depth of 84 km, the US Geological Survey said. Its epicentre was 45 km west of Dalbandin, a remote town in Balochistan with a population of 15,000.

Pakistan Meteorological Department Director Arif Mahmood said the quake was felt in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan and parts of Iran and India.

He said quakes of such magnitude in the past were followed by aftershocks. Footage on television showed people fleeing their homes in several cities, including Quetta and Karachi, and gathering in streets and open spaces. Some men prayed while women read from the Quran.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani directed the National Disaster Management Authority to keep relief provisions ready for dealing with any emergency in the aftermath of the quake.

He directed the NDMA to rush tents, blankets, medicine and food to Quetta as a “standby arrangement for quick delivery if required”.

Officials said there were apparently no casualties at the epicentre because the region is sparsely populated.

The temblor shook the cities of Hyderabad, Quetta, Jaffarabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan and Sargodha. Residents of high-rise buildings in Karachi rushed out into the streets. — PTI