8 July 2010

Wikileaks Insider Messages: http://cryptome.org/0001/wikileaks-mess.htm

A sends via PGPboard, 3 July 2010:

Find attached an open letter addressed to Icleland's Prime Minister.

Wikileaks Insider

Authentication Code omitted

An Open Letter To: The Prime Minister of Iceland:

Mdm. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Stjornarradshusid
150 Reykjavik
Iceland

Tel. +354 545 8400
Fax: +354 562 4014
E-mail: postur@for.stjr.is

Madam Prime Minister,

We are a group of WIKILEAKS activists who are very displeased about the manner in which our organisation is been run by Julian Assange. We have published our concerns on a website similar to, but older, and with a much more consistent track record than WIKILEAKS.

http://www.cryptome.org

Our concerns are not about the philosophy of WIKILEAKS, or indeed Iceland's desire to become a depository of information available from diverse and sometimes restricted sources. On the contrary we applaud this initiative, and WIKILEAKS original philosophy and purpose.

What we are very concerned about is Julian Assange's misappropriation of WIKILEAKS donor funding order to finance personal international travel, and numerous personal expenses. We explain at http://www.cryptome.org how WIKILEAKS internal structure resembles a one man band, from editorial oversight, website development, and unaccounted financial expenditures and disbursements. We also explain how only Assange has direct access to WIKILEAKS bank accounts, and that there are is no accounting of outgoing disbursements. Assange dismisses out of hand the suggestion that we should appoint a firm of trusted accountants to audit our expenditures and provide some transparency as to how our organisation spends donor funds. Many respected NGO's operating in politically challenging situations manage to do this, without compromising the source of their funding, or placing their staff in danger.

We estimate (no visible accounting) that Assange misappropriated approximately $225,000 form April 2008 to April 2009 and that from 1 May 2010 to date approximately $52,000. These are disbursements with no receipts and with no audit trail. See: http://www.cryptome.org

Lack of a credible a due diligence review led to WIKILEAKS been passed over for the KNIGHT FOUNDATION AWARD of $537,000, even though WIKILEAKS had the majority of support from advisors to the award committee.

We feel that Assange's financial mismanagement of WIKILEAKS may one day seriously damage Iceland's credibility concerning providing an international data haven. We would suggest that Iceland continues to support such a bold and courageous initiative, however, to be cautious and very aware of WIKLEAKS potential exposure to financial mismanagement issues.

Best Regards

A Wikileaks Insider