WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's planned escape from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in December 2017 was derailed by Undercover Global, the Spanish company that was in charge of the embassy's security but was actually spying on the cyberactivist for the United States, materials prepared for Sputnik by journalist Lourdes Gomez showed
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2020) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's planned escape from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in December 2017 was derailed by Undercover Global, the Spanish company that was in charge of the embassy's security but was actually spying on the cyberactivist for the United States, materials prepared for Sputnik by journalist Lourdes Gomez showed.
David Morales, the head of Undercover Global, is currently the lead defendant in the case opened in Spain over illegal wiretapping of Assange in the embassy. According to the judicial investigation, the company's employees were collecting information about the whistleblower, his lawyers, assistants and visitors and passing it to the US and Ecuadorian intelligence services. Morales is charged with crimes against privacy, violating attorney-client confidentiality, money laundering, and bribery.
In his article, Gomez said, citing case files, that a database made by Undercover Global employees, which contained information on all activities of a "Hotel" (the embassy) and a "guest" (Assange), also included data on a visit of Rommy Vallejo, the head of the Ecuadorian National Intelligence Secretariat (SENAIN). Morales shared this data with his "American client."
Vallejo visited the cyberactivist in the embassy on December 21, 2017. According to Assange's lawyer in Spain, Aitor Martinez, this meeting was linked to the possibility of leaving the UK for another country with an Ecuadorean diplomatic passport.
"Six or seven people, at most, participated in developing the operation. Julian was acting paranoid because he suspected that UC Global was spying on him. He took me to the bathroom, turned the water on, and so we were talking. No one believed him, but he was absolutely right," Martinez says.
The lawyer said that Bolivia, Venezuela, Greece, Serbia, Belgium and China were on the list of possible countries where Assange could flee to. Meanwhile, Martinez noted that the WikiLeaks head refused to seek asylum in Russia fearing that this could become an additional argument for supporters of a conspiracy theory seeing him as a "Russian agent."
According to Martinez, Vallejo's visit was a key stage of the planned escape, as they were set to discuss details of the operation, including the way Assange was supposed to get out of the embassy, where a car would be waiting for him.
E-mail correspondence attached to case files shows that Morales received a detailed report on Vallejo's visit, including audio and videotapes, the same night on December 21. The very next day, the United States sent an international arrest warrant for Assange to London.
"The plan was thwarted because of the alleged notification, which the UC Global chief sent to his contacts in Las Vegas Sands, the casino corporation owned by Sheldon Adelson, a sponsor of [US President] Donald Trump presidential campaign, who is also in [US State Secretary] Mike Pompeo's close circle," the article said.
However, during hearings in a Spanish court, Morales refuted allegations and said that he had not passed any tapes to the US intelligence services.
Assange is currently being sought by the United States for extradition to face multiple charges of espionage following the 2010 leak of classified materials relating to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
If convicted in the United States, Assange could face a prison term of up to 170 years. The ongoing initial court hearing will likely continue for the rest of the week, with a second hearing set for May.
