Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: My predecessor was poisoned, police bribed
Staff Writer |
The whistleblower at the centre of the Cambridge Analytica scandal has revealed shocking claims that his predecessor was murdered in a Kenyan hotel room and that police were bribed not to investigate.
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Christopher Wylie, whose allegations blew open the scandal involving the Donald Trump presidential campaign and the official Brexit campaign, painted a picture of a company involved in illegal activity around the globe as he addressed a British parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
Wylie said his predecessor Dan Muresan, was poisoned after “a deal went sour.â€
“People suspected he was poisoned in his bedroom,†Wylie said, adding that Kenyan police had been “bribed not to enter his hotel room for 24 hours.â€
Wylie added that the claims were merely “speculation†he had heard from others inside the company and that he had no proof of the allegations.
“What I heard was that he was working on some kind of deal of some sort, I’m not sure what kind of deal it is.
“But when you work for senior politicians in a lot of these countries you don’t actually make money in the electoral work, you make money in the influence brokering after the fact – and that a deal went sour.â€
He added: “Again, this is what I’ve been told, so I’m not saying this as a matter of fact, but people suspected that he was poisoned in his hotel room.â€
In remarkable testimony, Wylie painted a picture of a lawless organisation that had dealt with hacked material, illegal data and the use of intimidation techniques to win elections.
He said that Cambridge Analytica had little concern for the law, saying “they don’t care whether or not its legal as long as it gets the job done.â€
He said that Aggregate IQ, which he labelled a “shell company†of Cambridge Analytica, had been involved in sending violent and intimidating videos to voters in Nigeria in an attempt to swing an election.
The videos allegedly showed people who were “dismembered had their throats cut, bled to death in a ditch and burnt alive.â€
Wylie added that “Aggregate IQ, which received 40% of vote leave’s funding, also worked on projects that involved hacked material and kompromat and distributing violent videos of people being bled to death to intimidate voters and this is the company that played an incredibly pivotal role in politics.
Wylies said the company were pivotal in disrupting elections around the globe.
However, he said the main purpose of Cambridge Analytica, SCL and other linked companies, was not merely to win elections, but to use their role in those elections to “capture†governments and then use those contacts to change laws and regulations for the benefit of other companies.
“It is what modern day colonialism looks like,†he told the MPs.
He added: “It’s easy to make money… but you have to have your man in power first.â€
Of the company’s involvement in the Vote Leave campaign, he said that it “did not pass the smell test,†and had definitely been “illegal.â€
“Aggregate IQ had been used as a proxy money laundering vehicle… so they could overspend,†he said.
He said their involvement could have swung the referendum for Leave.
“I think it is completely reasonable to say that there could’ve been a different outcome in the [EU referendum] had there not been, in my view, cheating.†■