Wikileaks, the anonymous whistleblowing website, says PayPal has frozen its account, frustrating its fundraising efforts.

The website, which has stopped publishing leaked documents during its donation drive, said that PayPal took the action on Saturday.

"This is the second time that this has happened. The last time we struggled for more than half a year to resolve this issue," Wikileaks wrote.

"By working with the respected and recognized German foundation Wau Holland Stiftung we tried to avoid this from happening again - apparently without avail."

Wau Holland Stiftung is a Berlin-based foundation with links to the Chaos Computer Club, organisers of a prominent German hacking conference.

Wikileaks encouraged supporters to continue to donate via direct bank transfer. Sunshine Press, the non-profit organisation behind the website, was aiming to collect enough to cover its $200,000 running costs by January 18. The normal site currently remains offline however.

"WikiLeaks is not the only non-profit organization with this problem," it charged.

"This is a regular occurrence, that from our perspective should not be tolerated by the global community using this payment system."

A PayPal spokeswoman said the firm would investigate the suspension. ®

Update

Wikileaks is now able to accept PayPal donations again.

PayPal's spokeswoman said it had lifted the suspension on Saturday, suggesting it had been triggered by anti-money laundering systems.