(Bloomberg) — Swiss prosecutors asked a Zurich court to sentence Rudolf Elmer, a former employee of Julius Baer Group Ltd., to three and a half years in prison for revealing details of client accounts via WikiLeaks.
“He calls himself a whistleblower, thus dressing himself in a cloak of legitimacy” said prosecutor Peter Giger. “He is a pure traitor who fought the bank again and again under the pretense of humanitarian thought.” Elmer, 59, is accused of violating the country’s financial secrecy laws in a campaign to raise awareness of the use of Swiss bank accounts for illegal activity including tax evasion. He also allegedly offered bank data to the German government and fabricated a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the Swiss bank, advising her to close an account. Countries including the U.S., the U.K. and Germany have used testimony from former Swiss bankers or stolen client data to pursue offshore tax dodgers. Judges heard closing arguments today when the trial resumed for the first time since Elmer collapsed at the opening on Dec. 10, forcing the court to postpone the proceedings. His lawyer said he is still not well but he seemed in better condition. Unlike last month, when he wore a hooded sweatshirt to court, he was dressed in a suit today and exchanged smiles with people in the audience. The three-judge panel will also hear from Elmer’s lawyer, Ganden Tethong, before delivering a verdict and possible sentence. Elmer worked at a unit of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands until 2002. He allegedly uploaded data to WikiLeaks as early as 2007. In January 2011, he gave two compact discs to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at a press conference in London. He said at the start of the trial in December that the discs were empty. The former banker was detained in January 2011 and held about five months on a judge’s order after prosecutors argued that he might tamper with evidence. He has continued to campaign against an offshore banking network that he says enables wealthy people to hide money from authorities. To contact the reporter on this story: Jeffrey Vögeli in Zurich at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elisa Martinuzzi at [email protected] Cindy Roberts, Steve Bailey Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is strapping on his boxing gloves again.
Nearly a year after the cloud-computing giant led the charge to topple a law in Indiana that legalized discrimination against LGBT people in the name of religious freedom, Benioff says he is gearing up for a fresh fight against a similar bill in Georgia. "Nobody wants a discrimination law in America today," Benioff told The Huffington Post in a phone interview on Friday. "But there are still bigots out there fighting for people to be discriminated against." The bill, passed by the Georgia Senate in a 38-14 vote last Friday, allows religiously affiliated groups to refuse to "rent, lease, or otherwise grant permission for property to be used by another person for an event which is objectionable to such religious organization." Dubbed the First Amendment Defense Act, the legislation actually takes Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act a step further, barring government authorities from bringing civil cases against organizations accused of discrimination. "The law that was adopted in Indiana was a balancing act, where at least the government had the chance to go to court and make an argument that they should be able to penalize someone for discrimination," Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, told HuffPost. "With the FADA, there's an absolute right to discriminate, and that right is based on your view that marriage is between one man and one woman." The law in Indiana was amended last year to include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people after Benioff launched a scorched-earth media campaign, rallying some of the country's most powerful executives behind him. Salesforce -- the largest tech employer in Indiana -- vowed to pay to move any employees at risk of discrimination out of the state. Benioff also threatened to scale back the company's operations in Indiana unless the law was altered to protect LGBT people. Salesforce may only have about 1,000 workers in Georgia, but in May it is scheduled to host its annual Connections conference in Atlanta. The event draws about 15,000 Salesforce clients each year for three days. On Friday, Benioff posted a poll on Twitter, asking if he should change the event's location if the FADA bill becomes law. By early evening, 75 percent of the roughly 2,500 voters supported the move. Recently the Hong Kong Post announced that all items shipping by air are now subject to x-ray screening for regulated materials. This additional screening may cause delayed shipment due to no fault of the seller, so if you purchased an item from a seller in Hong Kong, please allow extra time for delivery—at least a week more than the seller’s stated delivery time. Also note that items containing the regulated materials are being returned to sellers and not delivered. These items may include: Items with lithium batteries such as video cameras, walkie talkies/2-way radios, GPS devices, radio-controlled toys, Bluetooth headsets, smartphones/mobiles, laptop computers, shavers, power drills, tablets and portable DVD players Liquid beauty products, including fragrances, colognes, lotions, and toner Items with “eliquids” such as electronic cigarettes and lighters If you don’t receive your item after waiting the additional week, please contact your seller - See more at: http://announcements.ebay.com/2013/09/changes-to-hong-kong-mail-regulations-may-cause-delayed-shipments/#sthash.2m2v2nfo.dpuf
Hong Kong economy is extremely liberal. There is no exchange control, restriction on capital entry and repatriation, and currencies can circulate freely. Money can be deposited, withdrawn or transferred from a bank account of Hong Kong as often and freely as you wish without having to produce any evidence nor to pay taxes.
Hong Kong companies are subjected only to income tax on the incomes and dividends directly drawn from Hong Kong at the rate of 16.5% of the net profits. |
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