Financial woes force Wikileaks to shut down

Whistle-blower website WikiLeaks has shut its operations temporarily due to financial problems. In a brief posted on its website, it said, “We are forced to temporarily suspend publishing whilst we secure our economic survival. For almost a year we have been fighting an unlawful financial blockade. We cannot allow giant US finance companies to decide how the whole world votes with its pocket. Our battles are costly. We need your support to fight back. Please donate now.”

In a video message posted on its homepage, Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange said its operations are now running only a five per cent lifeline with 95 per cent of its funds being choked by big banks. Assange said the cyber-war waged on the website by Mastercard, Visa, Pay Pal, Western Union and Bank of America has forced its hand at shutting down temporarily.

“As a result of exposing US embassies from around the world, the major US financial institutions have tried to economically strangle WikiLeaks. The attack has blocked over 95 per cent of our donations, costing tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. The attack is entirely political. In fact, in the only formal review to occur, the US Treasury found that there were no lawful grounds to add WikiLeaks to financial blockade.”

In a pledge for support from donors around the world Assange said, he and his team will do everything possible to fight this battle against banks.

“During the past five years Wikileaks has revealed million of secrets governments and corporations want to hide from you,” he said.

He also accused governments around the world in calling for the assassination of the people behind the whistle-blower website. He said the banking blockades were politically motivated.

He said there were thousands of more revelations to be made in the coming days.

At this stage it was unclear for how long the website’s operations will be shut.