Assange puts Indian Swiss account holders on notice
New Delhi, Dec 3 : The names of Indians holding Swiss bank accounts may be revealed by WikiLeaks sometime next year, its founder Julian Assange said on Saturday.
Assange, who is under house arrest in the UK, said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit through video-conferencing, that whistle-blower Rudolf Elmer, who passed CDs containing information to him, is undergoing trial and it will not be proper to make disclosures at this juncture.
Asked if names of Indians holding Swiss accounts will be revealed in the coming year, he said, “Yes.” Information about such accounts “which will affect India” will be revealed in the coming year, he said.
He said since Elmer was jailed and facing legal action, he does not like to comment on the issue at the moment.
“For that reason, unfortunately I cannot speak about information related to Swiss accounts in great detail. We must protect our people,” he said. The Australian whistle-blower said governments in some countries “are sucking out” data from e-mails and internet transactions and passing on this “economic intelligence” to companies like Walmart. He made some startling revelations about “hacking” and “hijacking” of data of unsuspecting people.
Assange maintained that NTRO, which he termed was India’s equivalent of National Security Agency of the US, was engaged in similar kind of surveillance under the cover of keeping track of “Islamic terror”. However, there were no known instances of NTRO sharing such information with private companies.
Assange said e-mails, transactions done through credit and debit cards as well as information sent on the internet, “go through the Pacific (Ocean) and US” and are intercepted in the name of national security and to combat terrorist threats.
“Part of this mission is to provide economic intelligence to companies like Walmart, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. They (security and private agencies) suck up this intelligence and use it for economic benefits,” Assange said.