WikiLeaks publishes Australian suppression order

(on 2014-07-29)

Today, 29 July 2014, WikiLeaks releases an unprecedented Australian censorship order concerning a multi-million dollar corruption case explicitly naming the current and past heads of state of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, their relatives and other senior officials. The super-injunction invokes national security grounds to prevent reporting about the case, by anyone, in order to prevent damage to Australia's international relations. The court-issued gag order follows the secret 19 June 2014 indictment of seven senior executives from subsidiaries of Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The case concerns allegations of multi-million dollar inducements made by agents of the RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia in order to secure contracts for the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.

The suppression order lists 17 individuals, including "any current or former Prime Minister of Malaysia", Truong Tan San, currently President of Vietnam", "Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (also known as SBY), currently President of Indonesia (since 2004)", "Megawati Sukarnoputri (also known as Mega), a former President of Indonesia (20012004) and current leader of the PDI-P political party" and 14 other senior officials and relatives from those countries, who specifically may not be named in connection with the corruption investigation.

The document also specifically bans the publication of the order itself as well as an affidavit affirmed last month by Australia's representative to ASEAN Gillian Bird, who has just been appointed as Australia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The gag order effectively blacks out the largest high-level corruption case in Australia and the region.

The last known blanket suppression order of this nature was granted in 1995 and concerned the joint US-Australian intelligence spying operation against the Chinese Embassy in Canberra.

WikiLeaks' publisher Julian Assange said about the order:

Keywords: Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Supreme Court of Victoria, Justice Hollingworth, DFAT, AFP, DPP, Thomas Brady, Peter Sinclair Hutchinson, John Leckenby, Steven Kim Wong, Christian Boillot, Clifford John Gerathy, Myles Andrew Curtis, Mohammad Najib Abdul Razak, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Pak Lah, Puan Noni, Mahathir Mohamed, Daim Zainuddin, Rafidah Aziz, Hamid Albar, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, SBY, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Laksamana Sukardi, Truong Tan San, Nguyen Tan Dung, Le Duc Thuy, Nong Duc Manh, Note Printing Australia Pty Ltd, Securency, Gillian Elizabeth Bird, Reserve Bank of Australia, super-injunction, suppression order, censorship, corruption, bribery

Read the Australia-wide censorship order for corruption case involving Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

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WikiLeaks publishes Australian suppression order