Humana People-to-People Alert - a secret commercial empire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A network of companies  

The Tvind organisation is a lot more than just a volunteer bureau devoted to solving the problems of the Third World. Investigators have uncovered an incredible network of more than 200 different companies, trusts and offshore accounts, run by members of the Teachers Group. So what's wrong with that? It depends how they operate and what they are for.

In their investigation, Danish police concluded that many of the supposed 'businesses' and 'charities' set up by Tvind were nothing more than brass plate companies for the purpose of moving money around undetected. Tax could be evaded, and much of the money was allegedly spent on property and land.

Scores of Tvind companies and offshore accounts outside Europe have never been fully investigated. There is a full list of known Tvind companies here.

 

THE COMPANY LIST

 

  The 'money machine'  

In the early 1990s, a Norwegian investigation, the Valdelin Report, concluded that only two or three per cent of the money donated to Tvind ever actually left the organisation.

With a complex web of companies and charity trusts all apparently doing business with each other, the TG has been in an excellent position to move money around, evade tax, and confuse the authorities, leaving behind nothing but an impenetrable paper trail.

  'not-for-profit'  

Lots of 'not-for-profit' or registered charity concerns like Humana, Planet Aid, Green World and Gaia. Not always run to the highest ethical standards: Humana UK shops and charities in Britain were closed down for serious financial impropriety and warnings have been issued to Humana and UFF charities in France, Norway, Denmark and Holland.

  trade  

Legitimate commercial trade in old clothes, timber, computers and foodstuffs run by known Teachers Group companies. U'SAgain, Garson and Shaw, offshore Holland House and ConMore are all commercial clothes traders. The Malaysia-based McCorry Group sells timber worldwide and is the subject of many emails. In Holland, EC Trading went bankrupt in 2000, owing £1.4 m.

  property  

The Teachers Group legitimately owns property through companies such as Argyll Property, AS Properties and the offshore Jersey-registered Argyll Smith. In the 1990s the TG invested millions in apartments, land and ships through hidden companies like John F Parsons Inc, the Markham Corp, Eastover Properties, Xoreux, ZBF, Blue Ridge Ltd, and B&B Shipping.

  agriculture  

Millions of acres of landholdings in the Caribbean and Central America owned by offshore companies like Jersey-registered Bahia Farming Ltd, Caribbean Farming Ltd and Cayman-registered Tropical Farming Ltd. The TG's main fruit and vegetable company trading produce from its landholdings is Fairbank, Cooper and Lyle.

  the Danish trusts  

Three key trusts and funds in Denmark, many of which have been around for 20-30 years. Often described as Tvind's 'money boxes'. They are DSI Estate, Fælleseje, and Thomas Brocklebank. The former TG-run Humanitarian Foundation was the subject of the 2001-2 police investigation and current court case and is now no longer controlled by Tvind.

  offshore  

Police investigating the Teachers Group identified many TG-run offshore 'holding' companies with a complex pattern of cross-ownership, said to be at the heart of Tvind. They include: Camberley Ltd (Guernsey), Chatswood Ltd (Guernsey), Cooper Investments (Jersey), Fairbank Ltd (Jersey), the Hobhouse Trust (Jersey), Kirchheiner Bros (Jersey), Lyle Enterprise (Jersey) and the Farmers Trust. Many of these brass-plate companies share the same directors and senior managers.

  alleged front companies  

Companies and supposed charities identified by Danish police as, allegedly, fake, or set up for a misleading purpose. They include All Europe Satellite Television Ltd (a TV station), The Institute for Scientific Research and Applied Sciences, La Societe Verte and L'Energie Eternelle ('green 'charities) and One World Channel. There are many small companies associated by police with alleged money-laundering in Malaysia, Tahiti and Brazil, such as Buckeye Ltd, Jambalaya Ltd, Jayhawk Ltd and South China Sea Farming.