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Elmer’s discs are old news, says Travers
(CNS): The information contained on the two discs given to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks by Rudolph Elmer from his time working with Julius Bear’s Cayman Islands subsidiary is nothing new, according to Anthony Travers, the chair of Cayman Finance. The leaked information is said to contain the names of more than 2,000 people with accounts in the Cayman Islands, but Travers says the US government won’t be gaining any new access to information because of what he described as the “long and established record of banking transparency and a willingness to share information” here in Cayman.
“This information is of historic interest only,” Travers stated in a release. He added that Cayman shares information with the United States and 20 other jurisdictions with which it has tax information exchange agreements, as well as all 27 members of the European Union. “Release of the names of persons who maintain accounts in the Cayman Islands – much like other threats from Julian Assange to post information on WikiLeaks – sounds sensational but is yesterday’s news,” said Travers, who chairs the local finance industry body .
The Cayman authorities entered into a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with the US Department of Justice to enable information-sharing on all crimes and money laundering more than two decades ago. In 2001 the islands signed a bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the United States that provides for exchange of information relating to federal income tax. Since then, it has established similar agreements with 20 other countries.
In 2002 Cayman became one of the first non-OECD jurisdictions to adopt the principles of transparency and exchange of information, requiring local banks, law firms and financial institutions to exercise complete due diligence on all clients. This was in addition to the duty of those institutions to identify suspicious clients and the mandate that every professional confidentially report all suspicious transactions to the government’s Financial Reporting Unit (FRU).
Cayman Finance said that together this led to Cayman being placed on the OECD’s “white list” of jurisdictions when it comes to transparency and regulations.
Elmer handed the discs to WikiLeaks founder on Monday in London and Assange has said that he will disclose the content once the discs have been scrutinized. At the press conference at the Front Line Club he indicated that the time it would take to vet the material would depend on the volume of information and how it was delegated. The Tax Justice Network is one of the groups that might be asked to help in the vetting process, he added.
John Christensen, former economic adviser to Jersey and now director of the Tax Justice Network, on e of the groups TRavers has called the ‘Tax Taliban’ told the BBC that Elmer had felt he had no alternative but to go to WikiLeaks as he had been "raising concerns … for many years.”
Christensen said that Elmer is not the only person who has worked in a compliance role in an offshore bank who has raised concerns with superiors about what is going oninside the banks, only to be ignored. He said the banks need to start taking warnings by compliance staff more seriously when they raise these issues.
Details of Elmer’s discs may be “several weeks” away
(CNS): The content of the discs reportedly containing the names of some 2,000 rich and famous individuals who, whistleblower Rudolf Elmer says, were using offshore centre to evade tax won’t be revealed for a few more weeks. Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, who has promised full disclosure of the content, told the world’s media in London on Monday morning that because of the focus on other issues (namely its cache of some 250,000 diplomatic cables) it could be several weeks before Elmer’s discs are properly reviewed and posted on the website. However, Assange said that both the Financial Times and Bloomberg are possible candidates that could be given the information ahead of time.
In a rare public appearance since his own arrest, the WikiLeaks boss said the files or parts of them may be given to the British government’s fraud investigators.
Elmer and Assange appeared together at a press conference in London at the Frontline Club ahead of Rudolf’s return to his native Switzerland, where he is to face trial for breaking that country’s secrecy laws and stealing information from Julius Baer, a Swizz based bank. However, the documents that Elmer is said to have taken from the bank and handed to Wikileaks in 2007 were taking from its Cayman Islands subsidiary, where Elmer was based for eight years before he was sacked in 2002.
On this latest disc Elmer claims there are details of the financial dealings of at least 40 politicians, among others, which he said he wanted to hand over to Wikileaks before he went on trial. At the press conference Elmer denied any wrongdoing and said he was on the side of right. The former Cayman based banker said he wanted people to know the truth about money concealed in offshore accounts.
“I do think, as a banker, I have the right to stand up if something is wrong," said Elmer, " "I have been there, I have done the job, I know what the day-to-day business is, I know how much is documented there and how much is not. I am against the system. I know how the system works and I know the day-to-day business. From that point of view, I wanted to let society know what I know. It is damaging our society."
Assange praised the former banker’s attempts to expose alleged shady practices in the financial industry.
Elmer’s former employers claim that he had embarked on a personal intimidation campaign and vendetta against Julius Baer. “He also used falsified documents and made death threats against employees,” the bank has stated.
Elmer to give more Cayman documents to WikiLeaks
(Guardian): The offshore bank account details of 2,000 "high net worth individuals" and corporations – detailing massive potential tax evasion – will be handed over to the WikiLeaks organisation in London tomorrow (Monday 17 January) by the most important and boldest whistleblower in Swiss banking history, Rudolf Elmer, two days before he goes on trial in his native Switzerland. Elmer, who after his press conference will return to Switzerland from exile in Mauritius to face trial, is a former chief operating officer in the Cayman Islands and employee of Julius Baer bank, which accuses him of stealing the information.
The first crop of documents which Elmer leaked were scrutinised by the Guardian newspaper in 2009, which found "details of numerous trusts in which wealthy people have placed capital. This allows them lawfully to avoid paying tax on profits, because legally it belongs to the trust … The trust itself pays no tax, as a Cayman resident", although "the trustees can distribute money to the trust’s beneficiaries".
Now, Jack Blum Elmer’s lawyer says, "Elmer is being tried for violating Swiss banking secrecy law even though the data is from the Cayman Islands. This is bold extraterritorial nonsense. Swiss secrecy law should apply to Swiss banks in Switzerland, not a Swiss subsidiary in the Cayman Islands."
Elmer:Society needs whistle-blowers
(Swissinfo): Rudolf Elmer, a whistle-blower talks to swissinfo.ch about Wikileaks and the role of such organisations “in a media-manipulated world”. Elmer, 55, ran the Caribbean operations of Swiss private bank Julius Bär for eight years until he was dismissed in 2002. He then moved to Mauritius and began sending global tax authorities what he said were the secrets of his former employer. Wikileaks eventually published documents exposing allegedly illegal activities by Julius Bär clients in the Cayman Islands. Julius Bär did not want to comment.
Q swissinfo.ch: Julius Bär fired you in 2002, which is when your dispute began. Why did you decide to give documents to Wikileaks?
Rudolf Elmer: I initially tried to fight offshore abuses myself, but that didn’t get anywhere. I then tried with the federal tax administration in Bern – but again in vain, because the tax administration couldn’t or wouldn’t protect me.
Corrupt cop bailed
(CNS): Elvis Ebanks, who was sentenced to three years in prison last week, has been released on bail pending his appeal. Ebanks was convicted of corruption offences in connection with a bribe he solicited while on duty as an RCIPS officer from a Filipino national in order not pursue a case against him over a possible stolen phone. He spent just one night in custody at George Town police station after his sentencing following a successful closed door bail application by his attorney, Laurence Aiolif of Stenning & Associates. The appeal against the conviction is scheduled for the November session and the former cop was bailed with an evening curfew and two $10,000 sureties until that hearing.
On Thursday, during the sentence hearing, Justice Charles Quin stated that Ebanks remained in denial about his crimes but his account that the bribe was just a loan was "entirely implausible". The judge pointed out that the ex-police officer could have obtained a loan from a local bank or the civil service Credit Union on far more favourable terms than the ones he claimed he had arranged with the defendant.
Seeing no evidence of remorse and considering Ebanks to be the primary motivator of the bribe, it was more serious than the circumstances of a police officer accepting a bribe offered to him. Although the money involved was not a significant amount, as it came to around $600, the judge pointed out that it was a "substantial portion" of the victim's monthly earnings.
Despite Ebanks' previous good character, his references and the impact of his crimes on his family and career, the judge said it was difficult to find any mitigating factors in the case, and given his position of trust as an officer, the abuse of that trust called for a custodial sentence.
The judge commended Elmer (Les) Ferraris for his bravery in coming forward and reporting what had happened, despite being terrified and believing that the police were going to press on with the case against him for stealing the phone, which, Ebanks had told him, would result in Ferraris being jailed for up to ten years, even though the owner of the phone had no intentions of pursuing a complaint against Ferraris, having had it returned to him.
Justice Quin said that Ebanks' conduct had not only undermined the reputation RCIPS but also the country and the courts would not tolerate corruption, as he handed down the three year prison term and also ordered Ebanks to make a compensation order for the cash he took from his victim.
Rabbit hunter misses target
(CNS): A gunshot which appears to have been accidently fired into a Bodden Town residence saw police quickly on scene Wednesday afternoon. However, it appears that the intended target was a rabbit and the licensed firearms holder shot at the home by mistake. Police officers went to the house following the report by the home owner, who said a shot was fired through his window. But an RCIPS spokesperson confirmed that preliminary enquiries quickly revealed the shot was fired by his neighbour who was hunting for rabbits. Police said no one was injured and the hunter had a licence for his weapon. However, the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation.
Teen gunman has sentence cut on appeal
(CNS): A teenager who was found guilty of robbery and firing at a police officer while trying to make his escape has had his 16 year prison sentence reduced on appeal to 9 years. The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal found that the trial judge who sentenced Elmer Wright to an accumulation of 16 years in jail for robbery, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition as well as the unlawful discharge of that weapon had not considered the young defendant's age when he committed the crime, although he was 18 years old when he was tried and sentenced over a night time gas station heist.
Wright, who is now nineteen years old, was the only person ever charged in the case and was convicted of a catalogue of offences relating to the armed robbery that took place at Mostyns Esso in Bodden Town in 2010. The teen, who was 16 at the time of the crime, was said to be one of four men that planned and executed the robbery at the small gas station and community shop at around 10:30 on a Friday night in June. The robbers stole around $1000 during the hold-up, in which a customer was gun-butted by one of the offenders.
As the robbers fled the store, police picked up their trail and gave chase towards the Northward area. When the getaway car finally stopped the robbers got out and ran off. However, before the young teen fled he turned and fired a shotgun on the police patrol vehicle. He was later apprehended by the police a short distance away with various incriminating pieces of evidence including shotgun shells and money taken from the gas station.
After a judge alone trial before Justice Smith, Wright was found guilty of the robbery, the possession of the gun and ammunition and the unlawful discharge of a weapon but he was acquitted of attempted murder.
The judge said at the time of sentencing that despite the defendant’s age, it was important for the court to send a clear message, otherwise public confidence in the justice system was at risk.
“The court must bear in mind the welfare of young offenders but when they deliberately commit serious offences, as the case now before the court, there is a legitimate public expectation that the defendant is severely punished,” he said. The judge added that the sentence had to also serve as a warning to other would-be offenders of the gravity of the offence and the risks associated with behaving in the same way.
He gave Wright the statutory minimum ten years for the possession of the gun, twelve years for the robbery and seven years for the possession of the ammunition which he ordered to run concurrently. However, he gave the teen a further four years jail time for the firing of the weapon, which he ordered to run consecutively because, he said, it was a separate offence as it occurred while the gang members were making their escape and not at the scene of the crime. The result was a sixteen year prison term.
In response to the appeal claim filed on behalf of the young offender by his attorney Nick Hoffman, of Priestley’s, that the sentence was “manifestly harsh”, the Court of Appeal agreed.
It found that the judge should have given greater consideration to the fact that the teen was only 16 when the crime was committed and he could have sentenced him in line with the youth justice law. The appeal court said he was wrong to think he was bound by the statutory minimums or sentencing guidelines designed for older offenders. The legal panel of senior judges said the trial judge should have had greater consideration for the totality of the situation, although they agreed that the teenager had committed a serious offence.
The court set aside the sentences and imposed new ones that they felt were more appropriate. They reduced the robbery sentence to seven years, the possession of the ammunition to 4 years and the ten year mandatory minimum to seven years, all of which they said should be concurrent.
They agreed with the judge’s decision to impose a four year sentence on the teenager for shooting at the police patrol car but ordered that two of those four years should run concurrently and the remaining two consecutively, resulting in a new nine year prison term for the young offender, which would include the time the he has spent in jail since his arrest in 2010.
Teen robber gets 16 years
(CNS): A teenager who was only sixteen at the time of his crimewas handed a sixteen year prison sentence in the Grand Court Friday. Justice Smith sentenced Elmer Wright, who is now 18 years old, to serve twelve years for the robbery of a Bodden Town gas station last June plus a further four years to be served consecutively for the unlawful use of a shotgun. The judge also sentenced the teen to the minimum sentence of ten years for the possession of an unlicensed firearm and seven years for the possession of ammunition, all to run concurrently with the twelve year prison term for robbery. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)
The judge found that, despite the defendant’s age, it was important for the court to send a clear message, otherwise public confidence in the justice system was at risk.
“The court must bear in mind the welfare of young offenders but when they deliberately commit serious offences, as the case now before the court, there is a legitimate public expectation that the defendant is severely punished,” he said. The judge added that the sentence had to also serve as a warning to other would-be offenders of the gravity of the offence and the risks associated with behaving in the same way.
The teen was convicted on Thursday of robbing Motsyns Esso in Bodden Town in June last year. Wright was also found guilty of the unlawful use of a firearm when he fired on a police patrol car as he attempted to escape after a high speed pursuit but was acquitted on the charge of attempted murder.
The judge found a number of aggravating features in the offence, including the fact that the robbery was committed with a number of other men, suggesting gang activity, that violence was used, as one of the customers in the gas station was butted by the robbers with a rifle as they fled, and that the crime took place at night.
He said that inadequate punishment does little to “heal the victims wounds” and would add insult to injury. Justice Smith said that without public confidence in the courts to hand down appropriate sentences there was the temptation and concern of driving the community to seek extra-judicial justice.
Explaining why he had ordered that the four year sentence for theuse of the firearm run concurrently, Justice Smith said the incident was a separate offence when he had fired at the unarmed police officers in the patrol car as he attempted to escape. The police, he said, were entitled to protection from the court.
Despite acknowledging the extremely difficult circumstances of Wright’s upbringing, the judge focused on the need to send the correct message, given the very serious nature of the offence.
But the judge noted that Wright’s early life was full of dysfunction and both of his parents were incapable of meeting his needs. Pointing to his unstable childhood, the judge noted that he had no contact with is mother since he was 12 and his father was incarcerated for significant periods of his teenage years. He also noted that the defendant had a learning disability which, despite being identified, had not been addressed.
Related article: Teen guilty of robbery
Teen guilty of robbery
(CNS): An 18-year-old boy, who was only 16 when he committed the crime, has been found guilty of robbing Mostyns Esso in Bodden Town last year but has been acquitted of attempting to murder a police officer. Following a judge alone trial that began almost one year ago, Elmer Wright finally discovered his fate on Thursday afternoonwhen the visiting judge who presided over his trial without a jury delivered his verdict. the teenager was also convicted of possession and use of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition relating to the gas station heist and a shot fired at police officers who gave chase as the men fled the scene of the crime. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
Justice Smith stated that the prosecution had proved beyond all reasonable doubt that Wright was involved in the robbery and that he had been in possession of the weapon that had been fired as well as the ammunition and that he had fired that shotgun. The judge said he rejected the defendant’s claims that he had been with another man earlier that evening who had fired a weapon and had swapped jackets with him. During his evidence Wright had claimed that the gun belonged to Harryton Rivers who was shot and killed by a home owner during an attempted burglary one month after the Mostyns robbery.
The judge rejected his story and said the accused’s own evidence was contrived and incredible. “In short I reject his evidence in the main,” he said adding that he had clearly lied and not for any innocent reason.
“The prosecution evidence has shown beyond doubt that he was one of the robbers at the gas station,” the judge said as he pointed to the list of evidence against the defendant.
Justice Smith found that the crown had also established beyond doubt that Wright had fired the gun but he did not think it had proved that Wright intended to murder the police officer when he fired the weapon at the patrol car. The judge said the fact that the defendant had fired towards such a large target and had missed the vehicle completely created reasonable doubt and he could not be sure the defendant was attempting to kill anyone, as he acquitted him of that count.
Wright was one of three robbers who held up the Bodden Town gas station in June last year but he is the only one to have been arrested and charged. The three armed men threatened a female attendant in the store and one butted a customer with one of the rifles before they fled in a white car with over $1000 in cash. As they made their escape a routine police patrol car which was in the area spotted the robbers leaving the gas station and went in pursuit.
The two officers in the police patrol car who were unarmed followed the robbers’ getaway vehicle at high speed into Northward Road, where the suspects abandoned the car. Three men ran from the vehicle on foot but not before one of them had loaded his shotgun and fired at the police car.
The defendant was charged with robbery and attempted murder as the man who fired the shot at the police. When he was apprehended in Beach Bay road as he emerged from some bushes he was found to have over $300 in cash, including more than 30 single dollar bills, shotgun cartridges and gunshot residue on his clothes and hands. Police also found the shotgun close by to where Wright was arrested a short time later.
Wright's trial began in December 2010 but was adjourned before the crown closed its case in order for defence expert witnesses to examine the prosecution evidence. Despite being schedule to return in January, the case did not in the end resume until July, almost six months after it started.
The trial was completed by the end of July but as a result of work load and other issues the visiting judge was not able to deliver the verdict until this week when he returned to the jurisdiction from Jamaica.
The teenager, who is now facing a lengthy term of imprisonment and scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow morning, is still the only person police have charged in connection with the robbery, in which the shotgun and the car used in the crime were both stolen.
Judge alone trials continue in firearms cases
(CNS): Another murder case involving afatal shooting is scheduled to open In Grand Court Monday and yet again the defendant has rejected trial by jury. Leonard Ebanks (39) who is charged with the murder of Tyrone Burrell who was gunned down during a social function almost one year ago, will appear before Justice Charles Quin to judge his fate. The 39 year old man is accused of killing 20 year old Burrell last year in Birch Tree Hill on 20 September during a social gathering. The police said at the time of the killing that Burell could have been a witness in another case but had never told police what he knew, however, his silence had not saved his life.
The fatal shooting took place in the same West Bay yard where Damion Ming was killed on the eve of his return to prison for drug related offences following the failure of an appeal against his conviction. Police have not stated if they believed Burrell had witness that killing or another gun related offence.
Ming was shot and killing in March 2010 in what was a peak period for shootings in West Bay. One man is currently in custody charged with Ming’s murder and that of two other men.
Over the last few months defendants have rejected juries in favour of judge alone trials in the last three firearms related murder and also in two case of attempted murders. So far judges have acquitted in all but one of the firearms case. A verdict in the case against Elmer Wright who was accused of robbing Mostyns Esso in Bodden Town and the attempted murder of a police officer is expected next