Wikileaks collectors' request denied

This morning Reykjanes Disctrict Court rejected Datacell's and Sunshine Press Production's claim of insolvency against Valitor. The claim was put forward due to an unpaid claim for damages, amounting to ten billion Icelandic kronas according to an estimation by those two companies.

The case started in October, 2010, when a contract was made that the company DataCell would take care of operating the payment gateway for Sunshine Press Production, the operator of the whistleblowing site Wikileaks, in order to receive funding from the patrons of Wikileaks. Valitor closed the payment gateway on the 8th of July, 2011 without any notice when funding for Wikileaks starting to flow through the gateway.

In Valitor's announcement it says that this a ridiculous claim; according to the annual accounts, Datacell and SSP have not had any income for the last few years.

The announcement says: „Therefore, it is surprising that companies that never have had any income, might suffer a loss amounting to billions."

The presentation of this claim is farcical

Kristinn Hrafnsson, the spokesman of Wikileaks, said in an interview with the newsroom recently that the funds that the two companies collected had not been received until later on. Therefore, there were not any amounts in the annual accounts.

„This small amount coming in those few hours that Valitor authorized it before they unlawfully closed it, as the supreme court ruled two years ago, was not returned to Wikileaks until much later. It was only in an escrow account," Kristinn says.

He is surprised at the conduct of Valitor and its lawyer. A natural reaction would have been a negotiation about a fair compensation for the loss Valitor made Wikileaks suffer.

„Valitor regards it seriously that companies like Datacell and SPP get away with taking advantage of a recent loophole of Icelandic law in order to submit a claim for insolvency that is totally unfounded and out of proportion to the occasion. A farcical presentation of a claim of this kind does not belong in the Icelandic judicial system nor in Iceland's business environment," it says in Valitor's announcement.