The People's Record

Wikileaks launches crusade against financial blockade
June 21, 2012

The world`s most famous whistleblowing website WikiLeaks is suing Valitor, formerly VISA Iceland, over suspension of financial services. The hearing is taking place before the Icelandic courts in Reykjavik on Thursday.

In a statement published on its website WikiLeaks announced the case is the first in a series of suits over the “unlawful” banking blockage.

WikiLeaks asserts that the financial blockade has been imposed by Visa Iceland on DataCell, the Iceland-based company processing donations for WikiLeaks, after the site published leaks in December 2010.

“Julian Assange was working in Iceland the winter of 2009-2010. After that, WikiLeaks actually produced a tremendously important leak which exposed corruption within Iceland. It shed light onto why the entire banking system of Iceland collapsed in 2008,” WikiLeaks press spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson explained to RT. He added that WikiLeaks has been “starved of 95 per cent” of its funds.

DataCell signed an agreement with Valitor in June 2011, but after a short period of processing donations for WikiLeaks, Valitor terminated the agreement and closed the gateway, even though it had been previously tested and certified by the company.

Valitor has cited alleged violations by Datacell for collecting donations for a third party. Datacell, however, insists that Valitor was fully aware of the final recipient of donations.

Source