From: To: Cc: Subject: Date: Attachments: Delphine Hamlin Leonard KREITZBERG-OGC.OGC1@FASNJAU@FASNJ; MAUREEN LA PIANA-OGC.OGC1@FASNJAU@FASNJ Ron Croushorn Fw: TROUBLING NEWS - Planet Aid - USDA Friday, February 17, 2006 9:52:10 AM DocLink1.ndl Len/Maureen: The Programming Division has learned of a Danish court case involving an organization (Tvind Teachers Group) with ties to Planet Aid. We don't know how deep those ties go, or if its the same Planet Aid, Inc. that USDA has signed agreements with. At this time we think Planet Aid, Inc. is a separate entity. However, we will do a quick search through the links below to see if the signatory to our agreements with Planet Aid, Inc. is mentioned. At the very bottom of this message is an email we received from a Steve Druit, a U.S. freight agent, who is also aware of the Danish investigation and Planet Aid's possible connection. Steve Druit states that in September 2002, Planet Aid was investigated by the Massachusetts attorney general for fraud and operating a front organization. Through your Justice Dept. connections, can you find out what the outcome of that investigation was? We are very concerned at this point because we have several irons in the fire involving Planet Aid: 1) a NICRA agreement with Planet Aid which we may not want to have Kirk sign yet; 2) a FY 2006 Food for Progress agreement with Planet Aid in Malawi which will provide 30,000 tons of wheat, and 3) a request from Planet Aid to Ellen/FAS Administrator to speak at the Food Aid Convention in Kansas City during a USDA session. Delphine Hamlin Agricultural Marketing Specialist USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service Programming Division (202) 720-4233 phone (202) 690-0251 fax Delphine.Hamlin@fas.usda.gov ----- Forwarded by Delphine Hamlin/EC/Fas on 02/17/2006 09:33 AM ----- Ron Croushorn/EC/Fas 02/16/2006 08:08 AM To Judith Phillips/EC/Fas, Delphine Hamlin cc Babette Gainor/EC/Fas@Fas Subject Fw: TROUBLING NEWS - Planet Aid - USDA Very close hold. We can talk on Friday. Ron ----- Forwarded by Ron Croushorn/EC/Fas on 02/16/2006 08:07 AM ----- Ron Croushorn/EC/Fas 02/16/2006 07:34 AM To W Kirk Miller/OA/Fas cc Mark Rowse/EC/Fas@Fas, Robin Tilsworth/EC/Fas@Fas Subject Re: Fw: TROUBLING NEWS - Planet Aid - USDA Kirk, Attached is some additional information that I found on a website. I recommend that we work with Compliance Review Staff to conduct some official inquiries. If you go down a few pages, you will find some information about Simon Lichtenberg, Marie's brother. Neither of them appear to be a part of the Danish case. Ron The trial of Amdi Petersen Humana founder Amdi Petersen and several other senior members of the Tvind Teachers Group are charged with €25m fraud and breach of trust and are appearing in a special computer-equipped court in this building in Aarhus, Denmark. The trial is taking place on around 80 days at widely-spaced intervals and is scheduled to last at least until spring 2005. Petersen is currently on bail and living behind high walls at a fortified ranch in Grindsted , central Denmark. However, police have returned his passport and he is able to travel abroad when his presence is not required in court. Latest trial reports (most recent at top): March-November 2004 The trial continues with legal arguments. Very little reported in the Danish press due to the complexity of the legal proceedings at this stage.. March 2004: Amdi confronts leading prosecution witness Hans la Cour. Summary Amdi Petersen, alleged leader of the Tvind organisation, has confronted Hans la Cour, the main witness in the case against him and seven other top Teachers Group members on charges of major fraud and embezzlement, in the Danish court. Petersen is accused by the Danish authorities of misusing public money for selfenrichment instead of for environmental research through Tvind's Humanitarian Fund. Petersen wanted to know why La Cour originally told to police that the millions for the Humanitarian Fund were used in a proper way. La Cour answered that he had learned. In court in Aarhus he claimed that the Humanitarian Fund was just a deceit to direct public money into the Teachers Group while at the same time evading tax. La Cour was a long-time member of the TG and was closely connected to the Humanitarian Fund when he left the Teachers Group in the nineties. He has since written a book, Den Rejsende (The Travellers), describing his time in the TG and accusing Petersen of fraud. According to La Cour the money never was to leave the Teachers Group. La Cour, who had come over from New Zealand, quoted Amdi Petersen who would have said that it would be ‘an insane idea to think that the money of the Teachers Group should go to anyone, who had nothing to do with the Teachers Group’. Source: Politiken/Berlingske Tidende http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.sasp?PageID=310321 http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=417472/ 19th February 2004 Witness Else Jensen: The poor did not have a chance. Summary: prosecution witness Else Jensen, who as a Teachers group member knew the inside story, told the court that Tvind's Humanitarian Fund was just to raise money, not to give it to the poor. She said the poor didn't stand a chance to get any money at all. However, she denied that Amdi Petersen was the one taking all the decisions. http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=409746/ Berlingske Tidende A German version of this article is posted at Friedrich Griess's Tvind newspaper archive 15th January 2004: Witness: Projects were just deception Berlingske Tidende By Marianne Harbo Summary: Dorthe Arp, previous member of the Teachers' Group, yesterday explained at the court how she produced plenty of applications from development projects to Tvind's humanitarian fund, knowing that those development projects never would see any money. They were invited to a meeting in Grindsted where Amdi explained the founding of the fund and about their new job to find projects which should apply to the fund for money. But he also explained clearly that the money only should be distributed to the TG's own projects. In summer 1987, she participated in the so called Global Research Program, and together with her mate Bjarne Petersen who also witnessed yesterday they sailed from Panama. When confronted with the people whom they knew to never receive any money, they became frustrated after a while and left Global Research. Dorthe Arp und her husband Bjarne Petersen confirmed the allegation of the prosecutors that Amdi was dominant in all actions and decisions. He, Kirsten Larsen, Ruth Sejerø Olsen and Marlene Gunst were the real leaders of the TG, not being elected in a democratic way, but self-appointed. http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=397024/ 8th Jan 2004 Witness claims Amdi to be the supreme boss of Tvind Summary: One year after the start of the court case against 8 Tvind top managers, finally the first witness, Anna Sophie Petersen (no relation) was interrogated on Thursday during 5 hours by the court. Mrs. Petersen had been a teacher in Tvind schools and a bookholder for several Tvind enterprises. She said the contrary of that what the defendants had claimed all the time was true: Mogens Amdi Petersen and Kirsten Larsen were the true leaders of Tvind, though they did not officially show up in any board nor have signed any documents. She also said that Tvind was a hierarchical organisation, though this was not visible as such from outside. No economical decision exceeding 100.000 Danish crowns could be made without the consent of KLAP. Amdi, once when asked about IFAS, said that he did not remember. Anna Sophie Petersen remembered very well: IFAS was the idea of Amdi, and when IFAS was founded in 1987 at a meeting at Plagborgvej in Grindsted where Amdi lived, she had been pointed out by him as a deputy chairwife. She left Tvind in 1999 when she understood that money from the humanitarian fund destined for Africa went back to the Teachers Group. http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.sasp?PageID=301686 http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=394398/ http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=394436/ http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=394622/ 3rd December 2003: Tvind-defenders accuse prosecutor Summary: Prosecutor Poul Gade arranged on 26 November a closed meeting of the court, related to the new raid of Tvind in Grindsted, where only two of the defenders were admitted. The defenders now think that this was against the law, because all of them were interested to be present and they think they had the right to. This is just a small aspect of the entire Tvind case where 8 people are accused for tax fraud and abuse of more than 50 millions Danish Crowns from a fund with the address at Tvind. http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=383864/ Berlingske Tidende, 3 december 2003, 15:40 hrs http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=2153796/ Jyllands-Posten, 3 december 2003, 15:40 hrs http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.sasp?PageID=297302 Politiken, 3 december 2003, 16:12 hrs 3rd December 2003: Steen Byrner examined Summary: On Wednesday, Steen Byrner was examined, the brain behind Tvind's economical dispositions. He spoke about a multiple of enterprises and associations where he had been trustee, director etc., for example Farmer's Trust, Thomas Brocklebank, South China Sea Farming, the Hobhouse Trust. Judge Steen Løvbjerg Nielsen, who otherwise followed the examination with much attention, and his two colleagues were not able to keep up with this complicated matter. Steen Byrner claimed to have done all that out of his own initiative and not to have been nominated for those positions by another individual, but possibly by decisions of a group, but he could not remember any details. He admitted to be responsible for the transfer of USD 440.000 taxfree for Amdi Petersen's luxury aparments in Miami instead of sending them to a development project in Malysia for which the amount was dedicated. One of Tvind's associations, Kirchheiner on Jersey, turned out to have been a sort of Tvind's internal bank where money was shifted around. The examination of Steen Byrner is to continue today [4. 12. 2003]. Berlingske Tidende http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=384048/ 27th November 2003: New Police Raid in Tvind case Under much secrecy, the prosecutors had triumphed during the Tvind court case that the police in Holstebro again have investigated the apartment of the Tvind speaker Poul Jørgensen in Grindsted. During the examination of Poul Jørgensen it became obvious that at the raid in April 2001, the police had left behind some boxes with material - among others documents - which Poul Jørgensen had with him at the court. "There were many boxes with papers which the police did not take with them at that time. Maybe there was something different written on the boxes than what was in fact inside", Poul Jørgensen said at the court. The prosecutors could not overhear that, and after a while, prosecutor Poul Gade asked the judge to suspend the case until Wednesday next week, which was accepted by the judge - at the big surprise of the eight defendants and their defenders. Immediately afterwards, there was a closed meeting of the court where the prosecutors - so far Berlingske Tidende could get knowledge about - asked for a decision of the judge to investigate the apartment of Poul Jørgensen. What was found there, the chief of the police in Holstebro, Jens Kaagaard, did not want to tell. Berlingske Tidende http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=381882/ 6th November 2003: Defeat for the prosecutor in the Tvind case It has no meaning for the further progress of the Tvind case, but the prosecutor got a "rap on the knuckles" for having examined one of Tvind's auditors in London, contradictory to the law of administration of justice. In the many partial decisions in the Tvind case, there was a minor defeat for the prosecutor's authority on Thursday. A British auditor for the Tvind compound in London has been examined by the Danish researchers in the case, contradictory to the law of administration of justice, the court stated. The examination of the auditor happened this summer and long after the formal examination in the Tvind case had been terminated. Both parties in the Tvind case accuse each other to slow down the case which is already much delayed, but it is assumed that the Thursday's decision will not have importance for the further progress of the case, even if in parts of the newspapers doubts had been raised about that during the last days. Lawyer Lars Kjeldsen, defender for the accused Kirsten Fuglsberg, told Ritzau that the decision of the court states that the Backman Police exercised unlawful research in Great Britain. There, witnesses may be examined under threat of prison without being presented to a judge. This could not happen in Denmark or under the leadership of Danish police research abroad. Tvind's speaker Poul Jørgensen is expected to be further examined in the coming hearings in the case. http://www.berlingske.dk/business/artikel:aid=374044/ http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=2106242/ http://politiken.dk/VisArtikel.sasp?PageID=293420 5th November 2003: Tvind Boss does not know anything about tax fraud The most publicly known representative for the Tvind-schools during three decades, the speaker Poul Jørgensen, denies that the school compound has been guilty by defrauding the Danish tax payers as part of the schools' comprehensive activity abroad. On the other hand, he confirmed on Wednesday the very tight economical relations among the teachers in the school compound. Poul Jørgensen is co-defendant in the case where the main person is the founder of Tvind, Amdi Petersen, who for many years kept himself hidden abroad. The case about fraud with at least 50 million Danish crowns was continued on Wedneday in rented court rooms in Århus. As a co-defendant in the comprehensive Tvind case, Poul Jørgensen was brilliant in his new role as the Tvind schools undoubted speaker and defender, and he asserted in long rhetorical and sometimes complicated legal phrases not to be guilty in comprehensive tax fraud. /ritzau/ http://www.jp.dk/indland/artikel:aid=2104408/ http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=373696 Previous court reports Simon Lichtenberg Danish, male. Businessman, Shanghai, China. Considered a likely candidate to succeed Amdi Petersen as leader of the Teachers Group. Runs the Trayton Group, furniture, timber trading and computer company in China that donates a third of its profit to the Teachers Group. The parent company, Trayton Holdings, is registered in the tax-haven Isle of Man and its founding trustees were Tvind international business leader Kirsten Fuglsbjerg, (aka Christie Pipps - one of those charged with fraud in the Danish Tvind trial) and Tvind 'chief accountant' Neils Peter Holst. Lichtenberg's association with Tvind began early - his parents joined the Teachers Group when he was just seven years old. The powerful influence of the Teachers Group shines through: Lichtenberg went on sign up with the TG himself and worked for it in Europe, Africa and Asia. His sister Marie Lichtenberg is also in the Teachers Group and working for Tvind-Humana in Africa; she is currently listed as a Humana manager working on ADPP's programme of teacher training colleges in Mozambique, 'Teachers of the Future'. (Her email address is mariel@humana.org). Lichtenberg himself is very senior in the TG. Information sent to Tvind Alert suggests that he was one of a number of key TG members despatched around the world in the early 1990s as part of a plan to expand Tvind's business empire and tasked with exploiting the growing Chinese market on behalf of Tvind. The Trayton Group, of which Lichtenberg is general manager, was started in the mid 1990s. Despite his protestations that he is solely a businessman, Lichtenberg is now widely believed to be a possible successor to Amdi Petersen as the man at the head of the multi-million dollar TG. W Kirk Miller/OA/Fas 02/15/2006 02:07 PM To Ron Croushorn/EC/Fas@Fas, Robin Tilsworth/EC/Fas@Fas, Mark Rowse/EC/Fas@Fas cc Subject Fw: TROUBLING NEWS - Planet Aid - USDA W. Kirk Miller General Sales Manager FAS USDA (202) 720-5173 Fax (202) 690-2159 ----- Forwarded by W Kirk Miller/OA/Fas on 02/15/2006 02:07 PM ----- "ISC-PCI" 02/15/2006 12:46 PM To "W. Kirk Miller" , "Babette Gainor" cc Subject Fw: TROUBLING NEWS - Planet Aid - USDA FYI. Regards, Stephen Druhot Founded in Denmark in 1977 as TVIND, the 30 or so initial members formed the Teachers Group. The Teachers Group owned farms and operated schools. Members took cult like vows of obedience and poverty. This evolved into Humana, which begot People to People which begot Planet Aid. All groups apparently still exist and own various firms, including a commercial used clothing broker. The founder Andi Pederson was arrested in Feb. 02 at LAX in transit and extradited to Denmark on on an international warrent for embezzling $10 million. In Sept. 02 Planet Aid was investigated by the Mass. Atty Gen. for fraud and operating front organization. Less than 10% of revenue from old clothes sales go to programming. People to People placed in receivership in the UK because their books could not be audited. France and Netherlands reclassified Plane Aid as a commercial business. France allegedly reclassified on aspect of Humana Aid as a non-religious cult. BBC World reported they apparently had trouble with the Gov't of Malawi over used clothing imports and sales. The Teachers Group allegedly defaulted on a $2 million loan from the Belize Social Security Bank when their fish farm went into receivership. Numerous sites report disgruntled volunteers who paid thousands of dollars to go to Africa and felt they were ripped off. There are sites dedicated to tracking and alerting the public about the various pumutations of this outfit. The weirdest allegation was from an early 90s report of gun possession and African mercenaries training at the TVIND site. Note they have received several USDA Food for Progress awards including for 2006 - 30,0000mt in Malawi and 3,300 follow on in Mozambique. The USDA web site features a Feb 2005 visit to Planet Aid's Food for Progress supported program in Mozambique.