Bankruptcy claims upsets operations at Valitor

Sigurður G. Guðjónsson, the lawyer of Valitors, wanted to make Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, the lawyer of Datacell, personally reponsible for the loss Valitor would suffer as a result of the claim for bankruptcy.

This is stated in Sigurður's reply to Datacell's and Sunshine Press Productions notification to pay against Valitor, which handles VISA in Iceland, and the newsroom has a copy of it.

These two companies, Datacell and Sunshine Press Productions,

handled the collection of the funding for the whistleblowing site Wikileaks.

Hired Sigurjón to calulate the loss

By ruling of the supreme court from 24th of April 2013, it was recognised that it had been an illegal decision of Valitor to close the payments to Wikileaks without any notice due to the collection of fundings and the company was obliged to re-open the gateway, subject to daily fines.

As Channel 2 in Iceland reported last Friday, those two companies filed a claim in Reykjanes District Court that Valitor should be made bankrukpt due to an unpaid claim for damages, amounting to 10,3 billion kronas with interests.

In addition to this, the companies have subbpoened Valitor for the payment of the damages and there will be a court hearing on Thursday. The claim amounts to 8,1 billion kronas. There is a subsidiary claim for damages according the result of a claims assessor, appointed by the court, but there is a final subsidiary claim for damages to be paid, based on a matter of opinions.

The companies hired Sigurjón Th. Árnason, former CEO of Landsbankinn, to calculate the alleged loss when fundings did not arrive when the gateway was closed. The outcome of Sigurjón's calculations was that the loss might be in the range of 1-8 billion kronas. Consequently, a full claim was made, including interests.

Harsh correspondence

Before a claim for bankruptcy was filed, Sigurður G. Guðjónsson and Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, the lawyer of Datacell and Sunshine Press Productions, communicated through correspondence, after those two companies had urged Valitor to pay damages.

In one of Sigurður's reply to Sveinn Andri, he says: „If you follow through your threat on behalf of your clients to file a claim for bankruptcy against Valitor Ltd., you and the representives of those companies and the companies themselves will be responsible in solidum for any loss that Valitor Ltd. and its shareholders may suffer due to the filing of a claim for bankrupty. Presumably you are aware that Valitor Ltd. is subject to a strict supervision of public authorities and its operation is subject to an authorization. A claim for bankruptcy does not increase the possiblity of your client of receiving payment for the alleged claim for damages, it much rather prevents the payment of damages, in the unlikely event that the court would in a uncertain future agree to your clients' claim for damages.

However, Sigurður said in the newstime of Channel 2 that a claim for bankruptcy did not have much effect on the operation of Valitor. He also says that he does not believe that any court would sustain that claim.