TVIND ALERT

Dagens Nyheter March 25, 2002

By Juan Flores and Nuri Kino

–
The Swedish used-clothes company UFF [Humana] today presents their new
board elected to wash off the sect mark. But Dagens Nyheter’s
examination shows that the reorg in reality means that the Danish sect
the Teachers Group are tightening their hold on UFF.

The Teachers Group
UFF pretends to break with the Danish sect the Teachers Group. In
reality the movement increases its influence over UFF. Out in the UFF
stores you can see the effect of the last few weeks’ headlines about UFF.
–

Today UFF introduces its new board of directors. UFF reorganizes in
order to wash off its sect mark. But it is just doing this to make a
show. In actual fact the sect called the Teachers Group are tightening
its hold on UFF.

DN has in a number of articles described how the Danish sect the
Teachers Group controls Swedish UFF. Now UFF has decided to make changes
to their boards. The aim is allegedly to prevent the members of the
Teachers Group to be in the majority. That is why UFF sacrifices both
Trond Narvestad and Thomas Gregersen, who both have been chairmen of UFF
and who both are members of the Danish sect.

Instead the Teachers Group is asking Carina Bolin, present chairman of
Humana in Italy, to come home, according to DN’s sources. Today she is
announced the new chairman in Sweden.

Other people who are said to be in question for the new UFF board of
directors are Sven Dahne, Bo Wallin, Kristina Johansson, Mona Axelsson
and Annika Kleveman. Mona Axelsson, who is the representative of the
employees, believes that there will be changes.

- This is happening right now because everyone of the employees has
demanded a major change of the management and the board and they voted
me in. The Teachers Group being in the minority is unique. Now we are
running UFF and UFF is made up of its employees. We won’t make any
decisions in the interest of the Teachers Group, she says.

But it’s not that simple. It is true that on paper neither Dahne nor
Wallin – who is presently on the board – are members of the Teachers
Group, but they both have children who are deeply involved. Dahne has
three children who are members of the sect.

Neither Dahne nor Wallin have been known to question the Teachers Group.
Furthermore, the Danish woman Jytte Nielsen will become a member of the
Swedish UFF board. She is one of the tough, original members of the
Tvind movement, two steps down from the leader Mogens Amdi Petersen.

Nielsen is registered as the owner of several of the Tvind empire’s
different companies and estates. All of this might mean that the reorg
presented by UFF as a separation from the Teachers Group actually is the
opposite, an increasing influence of the Teachers Group, despite the
fact that the two new board members -  Axelsson and Kleveman – together
with Dahne and Wallin is in the majority on paper.

In order to complicate things further the Teachers Group will keep the
financial power – even on paper. The fact is that it is only in one of
the two UFF organizations constituting Swedish UFF that the Teachers
Group now will be in the minority – in the association called “UFF in
Sweden”. As DN earlier has uncovered this is just a front organization.

The business is run by the association “UFF in Stockholm” – and in the
board of that organization the Teachers Group is still in the majority.
The board consists of the same persons as in the front organization,
with two exceptions: Kleveman and Dahne are not part of it.

This means that the Teachers Group has kept their right to make
decisions as regards the business itself. According to Axelsson this is
simply a coincidence.

- “UFF in Stockholm” is an association we didn’t know you could join. We
will work for a merger of the organizations.

The annual meeting also answered the question about who is a member of
UFF in Stockholm. All along the chairman has asserted that UFF is
independent of the Teachers Group and that it is an ordinary Swedish
association.

It was now evident that the majority of the members were Danes,
belonging to the Teachers Group. DN interviewed the new chairman Carina
Bolin some time ago.

- Yes, I am a member of the Teachers Group. I joined it in the early
80′s, she said then.

She also explained that she kept in contact with the now arrested sect
leader, Amdi Petersen, even though she preferred not to talk about it
any further.

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, 24th March 2002

By Juan Flores

Ikea is doing business with the Danish Tvind empire suspected of
financial crime in Denmark. The Tvind company Trayton, which is
expanding rapidly in China, is delivering sofas to the Ikea furniture stores.

The hard core of the Tvind movement, the sect called the Teachers Group,
mixes charity organizations with a great number of commercial businesses
around the world. One of those is the Trayton group with its parent
company situated on the Isle of Man.

On the board of Trayton Holdings Ltd you will find nothing but
well-known members of the Teachers Group. The Trayton group’s line of
business is selling wood in Africa but it also runs more than a dozen
furniture stores in Shanghai, China, mainly with Scandinavian design. In
addition, the group owns a furniture factory. It is this factory that
manufactures a great number of the sofas bought and sold by Ikea in
their furniture stores.

- Ikea is well aware that this is a Tvind company. Right now Swedish
companies are expanding in South East Asia and they help each other.
Ikea profits by buying furniture at a low cost from Tvind, DN is told by
a source with insight into UFF’s/Tvind’s international finances.

According to this source it is common knowledge within the Tvind
movement that Ikea is a business partner. The prominent figure of the
Trayton group in China is the Dane Simon Lichtenberg, who is described
as a “business wonder child” and who in a very short time has built an
extensive operation in China.

Lichtenberg has been brought up with Tvind since both his parents are
members for life of the sect the Teachers Group and he has been living
at the Tvind estate. Some time ago when the Danish newspaper Berlingske
Tidende revealed that Lichtenberg has a tight connection with the
Teachers Group, it came like a bombshell in Denmark, since several of
the major Danish furniture companies are doing business with Lichtenberg.

Ikea’s publicity manager Charlotte Lindgren confirms that the company
buys furniture from Trayton.

- But it is a small supplier. The sofas we buy are sold in the stores at
the local market in China. They are not sold in the Swedish stores, she says.

- The furniture supplier meets the demands Ikea makes on working
environment and such, and it is the local company that we are doing
business with. We have no contact with the parent company, Charlotte
Lindgren continues.

Ikea has no plans to cancel its cooperation with the company, in spite
of the fact that the Tvind empire – with sect leader Mogens Amdi
Petersen at the head – is suspected of severe financial crime in Denmark.

The police suspect that one of the funds owned by the movement, a fund
called the Foundation, which has been tax-exempt since it was classified
a non-profit and public utility organization, has actually been used for
transferring great amounts to sheer commercial objects.

In their preliminary investigation the police say that nothing from the
fund has gone to non-profit purposes and that the Teachers Group, by
building bogus organizations, also has tried to conceal the fact that
the money doesn’t go to development projects. The Tvind movement is
suspected of embezzling 75 million Danish kroner and of withholding 111
million from taxation.

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, March 20, 2002:

By Juan Flores and Nuri Kino

UFF //Humana// in Sweden sends money to the Tvind empire’s bank. Today
Dagens Nyheter is able to publish a document showing that UFF transfers
great amounts of its charity funds to an organization suspected of
implication in economic crime.

Yesterday Dagens Nyheter could inform that UFF in Sweden loses its
90-account //authorized fundraising account// after having mismanaged
its finances.

Since the arrest of Tvind leader Amdi Mogens Petersen the Danish police
have intensified their actions against the Danish sect the Teachers
Group, constituting the core of the Tvind movement.

Danish authorities, while accusing Petersen of tax evasion crime
amounting to many million Danish kroner, have frozen the transferences
from one of the fonds owned by the Teachers Group, the Foundation, to an
organization tied to Humana People to People. It is called the
Federation.

According to one of Dagens Nyheter’s sources with insight into the
operation of Humana People to People, the Federation is nothing less
than the bank of the Tvind empire, to a large extent used to provide
capital for plantations, furniture factories and other commercial
operations run by the Teachers Group from tax havens all over the world.

The transference published by Dagens Nyheter is from October 1998 and
shows that about 66,000 Swedish kronor was transferred that month. From
the notes made on the document it is possible to conclude that it’s a
question of a monthly transference. At the same time as Swedish UFF has
mismanaged its finances and incurred over 130 records for non-payment of
debt – unpaid bills and taxes amounting to 4.2 million Swedish kroner -
it might, in other words, have payed huge amounts to the Federation.

- All Humana organizations in the world make monthly payments to the
Federation and other Tvind organizations, another of Dagens Nyheter’s
sources says.

It was when the Teachers Group tried to transfer more than 13 million
Danish kroner, described as a loan, to the Federation that the Danish
authorities intervened.

- So far we have turned down Tvind’s application and demanded to get
more information, says Ole Löndal, director of the the Danish Erhevervs-
og Selskabsstyrelse, a Government institution which inspects and audits
associations.

For example, the authorities intend to make sure that there isn’t a case
of members of the Teachers Group representing both the borrowers and the lenders.

According to the Teachers Group the purpose of the money is support of
the organizations small-scale projects in Africa. However, drop-out
ex-members of the sect tell Dagens Nyheter that this is just an excuse
for getting money out of Denmark while it is still possible.

In connection with Dagens Nyheter’s exposure of Swedish UFF’s link to
the Teachers Group, made in articles late December 2001, the newspaper
also published documents showing that UFF transfers money to the Net Up
organization, registered at a known Tvind address. Up until last autumn
this was also Mogens Amdi Petersen’s Danish address.

Last Tuesday Tvind leader Amdi Mogens Petersen was once again refused
bail in the U.S. Petersen, who after having been hiding for 20 years
was revealed to be living a life of luxury on Fisher Island on the coast
of Florida, engaged top-notch defense lawyer Robert Shapiro when
arrested about a month ago.

Dagens Nyheter has not managed to reach the UFF chairman Trond Narvestad
to get his comment to the situation.

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, March 19, 2002:
By Juan Flores and Nuri Kino

UFF loses its 90-account //authorized account type for charity
organizations only, a guarantee that they meet certain criteria//. The
organization has mismanaged their finances to such extent that the gifts
from the Swedish people never arrive at the real aim for the fund, but
are used to balance the debts of the organization, says the SFI //a
Swedish authority for control of fundraising projects//.

There has been much turbulence around UFF since DN exposed its
operations late December last year. More and more Swedish cities now
question the yellow second-hand clothes containers placed everyone in
the streets – and now SFI, the Swedish autority for control of
fundraising projects, finally has decided to discontinue the authorized
fundraising account for the organization.

- We claim that they haven’t handled the finances in the way expected by
a holder of a 90-account. The funds they raise will have to go to paying
back their debts, something that people donating money and clothes to
UFF know nothing about, says Kim Österberg, the new administrative
director at SFI.

The 90-account functions as a kind of guarantee that fundraising
organizations meet certain criteria. Now UFF are no longer allowed to
use a 90-account or display the SFI logotype, which the organization has
made frequent use of in order to give credit to its operation.

- That is a sound decision, says Erik Zachrison, secretary-general of
FRII, the trade association for all fundraising organizations, which for
a long time has denied UFF admission.

- There has been many complaints about UFF as regards unethical
behaviour. And a number of times there has been proof of UFF being
negligent with the handling of cash.

As revealed by Dagens Nyheter around the turn of the year, UFF has a
debt of more than 4 million SEK and much points to the organization
having made a system of not paying it. The organization are subject to
more than 130 records for non-payment of debt and it has for years been
carried on at the verge of bankruptcy, despite the fact that the clothes
donated by the Swedish people – adding up to an amazing total of 8,900
tons a year – are sold at multimillion amounts in Eastern Europe by
UFF’s sister organizations.

In other words, UFF sells the clothes cheaply to the UFF organizations
abroad, which in their turn make the big profits. Swedish UFF
consequently refuses to account for the profit from the sale of Swedish
clothes to other countries. Dagens Nyheter was also able to show
documents proving that UFF is governed by the Danish sect the Teachers
Group, which runs the so called Tvind movement.

However, SFI has only looked at the financial aspects and the fact that
UFF has delayed handing in the annual reports to SFI.

- When UFF has paid their debts they are welcome to apply for a
90-account once again, Kim Österberg continues. Trond Narvestad,
president of UFF, says that he quite understands the decision.

- The reason given to us, that we presently are in a phase during which
we clean up our finances and that we won’t be able to donate to the
projects, sounds reasonable to us.

Narvestad claims that the situation is a result of UFF earlier having
paid too much money to the projects in relation to what the organization
has collected.

On February 21st 2002 journalist Nuri Kino participated in a debate with Swedish UFF
president Trond Narvestad on Swedish radio.     In agreement with
Nuri we have made a transcript of the broadcast and translated it into English
(below).

—
Transcript (and translation) of a debate broadcast by the Swedish
Broadcasting Corporation as part of the morning news feature on February
21st, 2002:

RADIO REPORTER: More than 2000 yellow UFF //Humana People to People//
containers are put up all over Sweden and Swedes give away tons of
clothes each year by dropping them in these containers. But the question
is: does the money really go to development aid projects in poor
countries or does it end up in the pockets of a Danish suspected
swindler? Our next subject this morning is the Swedish UFF and Danish Tvind.

Last weekend Mogens Amdi Petersen, leader of the Tvind movement, was
arrested after having been wanted by the police for almost a year. He is
suspected of having swindled the Danish state of 75 million DKK in taxes
and he has spent the last 20 years in exile living in an enormous luxury
appartment on an island in Florida. There are connections between the
Tvind movement in Denmark and Swedish UFF, since UFF was once started by
members of the core team of Tvind, what is called “the Teachers group”.
This is the reason that Swedish UFF now is being questioned more and
more.

I say good morning to Nuri Kino, freelance journalist who has looked
into UFF and its business.

NURI KINO: Good morning.

RADIO REPORTER: What would you say is the strongest evidence that there
is a connection between UFF and Amdi Petersen?

NURI KINO: Well, there are for instance all the documents in our
possession showing transactions, other verifications and different kinds
of communication – letters, emails, etc. Not to mention the hundreds of
people we have talked to during our time of investigation, like
defectors from the core team, and current members of the core team who
don’t dare to go public but who feel it is high time it is exposed that
Swedish UFF is controlled by Amdi Petersen and his closest collaborators
in the Teachers group.

RADIO REPORTER: The Teachers group is controlling Swedish UFF, do you mean?

NURI KINO: Absolutely.

RADIOREPORTER: Last year the Swedish people gave away almost nine
thousand tons of clothes to UFF, dropped into these containers, and many
people buy things from the UFF stores all around Sweden in the belief
that the money will go to aid to developing countries. Are all these
people being cheated?

NURI KINO: Yes, they are. First of all, the nine thousand tons are only
what is known to us. And the Swedish people have, in my opinion,
entrusted Swedish UFF with the administration of funds because these
clothes are turned into money and we are talking about at least – and
that is an absolute minimum – 25 SEK per kilogram, so if you ask me, I
would say that we are being cheated.

RADIO REPORTER: How much money does it add up to?

NURI KINO: It is hard to estimate as long as Swedish UFF does not open
its books, but we are talking about at least 200 million SEK a year.

RADIO REPORTER: Trond Narvestad is the president of Swedish UFF. I say
good morning to you.

TROND NARVESTAD: Good morning.

RADIO REPORTER: What influence does the Teachers group have over Swedish
UFF today?

TROND NARVESTAD: UFF in Sweden is controlled by our board of directors
which is elected by our members at the annual meeting. Those who run UFF
in Sweden are totally independent in relation to both the Teachers group
and Tvind and also other UFF organizations internationally. That is to
say, UFF in Sweden is part of the federation Humana People to People,
but it is still an independent and self-governed organization. I just
want to say … when he mentioned these figures of 200 million SEK it is
the kind of numbers that are taken completely out of the blue. We
collect between eight and nine thousand tons a year. The amount 25 SEK
per kilogram that was mentioned here, that is the donation value given
by SFI //a Swedish authority for control of fundraising projects// for
the clothes we donate – not the actual turnover for the clothes …

RADIO REPORTER: Well, maybe we should … You were saying that UFF is an
independent organization: Nuri Kino, what did your investigation show?

NURI KINO: First of all, “UFF in Sweden”, as Trond Narvestad – who is
Amdi Petersen’s closest co-worker in Sweden – choose to call it, is a
front organization in which the actual commercial business, the
enterprise, is called “UFF in Stockholm”. Noteably Trond Narvestad
didn’t mention that fact. Secondly, Trond Narvestad claims that the
Teachers group is not in control, which makes it very remarkable that
he, being the front figure of the Teachers group in Sweden, as recent as
the autumn of 1999 wrote a letter to other – what shall we call them? -
let’s call them other “lifetime members” who have signed a lifelong
contract binding them to the sect …

RADIOREPORTER: Yes, and you brought the letter with you, didn’t you? You
have it here in the studio?

NURI KINO: Yes, among a number of other documents.

TROND NARVESTAD: Look, I would like to oppose to that. I am not a front
figure of the Teachers group here in Sweden.

RADIO REPORTER: But let us hear the first few lines of this letter that
Nuri Kino has brought.

NURI KINO: “To the Teachers group in Sweden: Concerning the issue on UFF
as a member organization. What is UFF’s purpose of the organizational
structure in Sweden? 1. We want to secure the control over UFF’s
operation in Sweden, so that nobody can take over what we have achieved.
2. We want a good legal platform for UFF which does not jeopardize the
Teachers group’s money and which gives us the best financial and legal
foundation for our work.”

RADIO REPORTER: Trond Narvestad, what are your comments to this?

TROND NARVESTAD: Well, this is of course a private letter that I wrote
some years ago, but what it says has to do with UFF’s operation and how
UFF should be able to keep the control of its own business. This was
written with a major recruiting campaign at hand and we had …

RADIOREPORTER: OK, but tell me, Trond Narvestad, why does it say
“Teachers group” in the letter?

TROND NARVESTAD: It says so because some of the members of our board
happen to be members of the Teachers group.

RADIOREPORTER: Are you yourself a member of the Teachers group?

TROND NARVESTAD: Not at the moment.

RADIOREPORTER: Have you been a member of the Teachers group?

TROND NARVESTAD: I have been a member, yes.

RADIOREPORTER: When did you leave?

TROND NARVESTAD: Well, there has been a somewhat vague transition
period, you could say.

RADIOREPORTER: When did you last leave the Teachers group?

TROND NARVESTAD: No, but this is … this is a completely private matter
and ….

NURI KINO: It wasn’t more than three months ago, Trond Narvestad, that
you told me in an interview that both you and I know about the Teachers
group and you said to me: “well, you know that I’m a member of the
Teachers group.”

TROND NARVESTAD: Yes, but I have been …

NURI KINO: And now you are suddenly the president of UFF in Sweden.

TROND NARVESTAD: Yes, but is it so strange that we have changed presidents?

NURI KINO: And then it isn’t the clothes from the Swedish people …

TROND NARVESTAD: Now I’d like to … Listen, I’d like to say something
too. It is after all us that are being dragged through the mud here and
now I’d like to say something too, because we are actually facing a
major world campaign. We did have a tax debt – and we haven’t tried to
cover that up in any way – we have a tax debt and the members of our
board were held responsible privately for this debt, and that’s why this
was a letter to those of our teachers who were on the board as an
assurance that they wouldn’t end up in a situation demanding that they
pay with their own money for this. This happened many years ago. I would
like to point out that Kino for instance said … and that is actually
very important now that we are discussing our development aid projects
… what it is that really comes out as a result of these clothes and
what really comes out of the money we earn. And Kino has said when he
interviewed our employees that we have very qualitative projects. Our
Aids program is probably one of the best in the world. And I would like
to point out that …

RADIO REPORTER: But Nuri Kino’s investigation does indeed show that a
lot of the money doesn’t go to development aid projects at all.

TROND NARVESTAD: Yes, but we are audited by a certified accountant, we
have an approved account for the funds, we are controlled by the SFI. I
can guarantee here and now that all of our profit and all the clothes we
collect, we administer as best as we can in order to create projects
that …

RADIO REPORTER: But why won’t you make your accounts public?

TROND NARVESTAD: But they are public, they are public.

RADIO REPORTER: Are all of your books public and open to everyone?

TROND NARVESTAD: All our accounts are of … now is …

RADIO REPORTER: Nuri Kino, what problems have you encountered when you
have tried to investigate UFF?

NURI KINO: Swedish UFF doesn’t want to answer questions about their
accounts at all, and they refuse to share their accounting and their
books with others. And we have given them quite a lot of opportunities
to do so. Then it is the case of those small-scale projects Trond
Narvestad mentions – they add up to 6 to 7 millions SEK and included in
that amount is the support of other aid organizations money, a fact that
Trond Narvestad knows very well.

TROND NARVESTAD: We receive minor contributions from other organizations
but we ourselves contribute with 3 to 5 …

NURI KINO: Trond! Just open the books for us and put and end to the
whole discussion!

TROND NARVESTAD: We have opened the books.

NURI KINO: No, you have never done that, and besides …

TROND NARVESTAD: You can go to our web site and review our accounting there.

NURI KINO: Trond! Trond! I’m sorry but in the annual report for fiscal
year 2000, even at the very first page, when I discussed it page by page
with you, together with Juan Flores, you had manipulated every single
line, and you have admitted it to me, Trond, that you use double-entry
book-keeping. Why do you do that?

TROND NARVESTAD: We don’t use double-entry book-keeping …

NURI KINO: You admitted it yourselves. Why?

TROND NARVESTAD: No, we don’t use double-entry book-keeping… We use
… What we do is, we have UFF constructed as a number of local
subdivisions all over the country. And that is why we have …

NURI KINO: And according to Swedish law you may not use consolidated
financial accounts for an organization constructed like yours.

TROND NARVESTAD: According to the SFI requirements we should use
consolidated financial accounts …

NURI KINO: You have told me that you only use SFI in order to legitimate
your other operations.

TROND NARVESTAD: That isn’t true.

RADIO REPORTER: We will have to wrap up this discussion now between
Trond Narvestad, president of Swedish UFF, and Nuri Kino, freelance
journalist. Finally, Nuri Kino, I would just like to ask you – those who
shop in UFF’s stores or put clothes in the containers, what conclusions
should they draw from this discussion?

NURI KINO: Before people buy anything from UFF or give away their
clothes, they should ask UFF in Sweden and – most importantly – the
other UFF organizations, like UFF in Stockholm, to open their books.

RADIO REPORTER: And openly show the public where the money goes, you mean?

NURI KINO: Yes!

RADIO REPORTER: Thank you very much, Trond Narvestad, president of
Swedish UFF, and Nuri Kino, freelance journalist.

—

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Dagens Nyheter, Sweden,  29 December 2001.

In a flat in Rinkeby (in Stockholm) live ten young people from all over the world.    They work at UFF without getting paid.    Hundreds of youngsters every year are drawn to attend UFF as volunteers.    They think that they are going to do an insats for helping poor people – in reality it is all about a recruiting campaign for the Danish sect the Teachers Group/Tvind movement, who run UFF.

Those who attend make over their financial assets to the TG and promise to let the “comrades” decide about their time.     DN has met three women who has been in touch with the Teachers Group.

The Sect Keeps the Members in a Firm Grip

It says Österdahl on the door to the flat. A Finnish High-School-drop-out opens the door and shows around. Ten beds in two rooms, sleeping bags, mattresses, a choke fan and cigarette smoke that refuses to divert. Here ten young people live. They work nine hours a day, six days a week, without payment. They are paying on a debt.

They are called solidarity workers and are drawn from all over the world. They work for UFF, and live together in a flat that UFF rent in Rinkeby, north suburb of  Stockholm. They receive 300 SEK/week for food and other expenses. Only at the UFF Flea-market in Huvudsta are constantly 1-3 foreign young people working for free in this way. They are paying a debt to Amdi Petersen, working to earn for a school-fee.

Even though they are working at UFF – in shops, cloths sorting, cloths collecting and at the flea market – UFF has no responsibility of them, the association claims. It is the Danish Else-Marie Pedersen who is their boss. She comes every week in order to check them. Else-Marie Pedersen works for the recruiting organ of the Teacher Group.

When DN makes the interview in the flat, the youngsters are full of questions about Amdi Petersen and the Teachers Group, that they only have been hearing about, even though they are working for him.

Then Else-Marie Pedersen turns up. She gets totally furious when she discovers a journalist in UFF’s flat in Rinkeby.

-         This is a crime of home peace! she roars.

-         Get out from here!

Then she calls frenetically on her mobile phone and starts tearing around in the flat. It looks like she is clearing away documents.

After a while one of the youngsters come out, a German boy. He goes away.

-         She says that journalists are the devil and that we are not allowed to talk to you. We are just some poor young people who has got into a jam. This is really unpleasant, he continues and jumps on the bus.

An exclusive flat where a discrete Dane lives. He has got neighbours like Julia Roberts and Robert de Niro. Mr Petersen has not been photographed in twenty years; It is almost like he is not existing. Anyway Mogens Amdi Petersen has got all power of those ten persons in the worn flat in Rinkeby.

Annelie

(More or less the same story that already is on Tvindalert, Autumn 1999 in Winestead Hall England. )

Lisa

Annelie never made it to Africa. But Lisa Karlsson did (assumed name), today a physician. Lisa was recruited by reading a poster at Kulturhuset at Sergels Torg, Stockholm. She wanted to make a practical effort in Africa and went on a course with the Travelling High School.

-         We travelled through many countries and as we had a very small budget, we went by through hitch-hiking and sleeping over where we could, at strangers, wherever. It was instructive, but also somehow dangerous, as when we thought of  hitch-hiking through a country that was in a civil war.

Lisa was on her way deeper into the organisation, towards the sect-like centre, and became member on a two-years-contract. Those who become members of lifetime sign a contract that all their economical assets, inheritances and such are left to the Teachers Group. Then they will receive pocket money and costs will be paid from the common economy.

Now she also saw that it was not as easy to withdraw.

-         We held big common meetings where we were exposed to hard critics from the “comrades”. Once somebody said she wanted to go home and they said “let’s not make a break in the meeting until she has changed her mind”. We kept on the whole night until she broke down and said that she didn’t want to go home any more. Then they said that “it doesn’t sound like you mean what you say. We will continue until you sound sincere”.

-         – When I saw how that treatment affected her psyche, I understood that I did not by any means want to expose myself to that.

Lisa Karlsson worked with a literacy teaching project. It didn’t work out very well, as the Scandinavian youth she was leading was to stay for a too short period to be able to teach anybody to read and write. The education was done without co-operation from – or even against – the education ministry in the country.

-         Once one of the life-time members told me straight forward, that the important thing was not to teach Africans to read, it was to recruit members to the Teachers Group. Then the work didn’t feel meaningful any more, Lisa says.

After a while Lisa Karlsson started to have strange attacks where she fainted and she needed to come to a doctor for a X-ray examination. When she was on her way to a hospital in a neighbouring country, she was robbed on her passport and money. One of the comrades in the teacher group didn’t have the courage to give her those 100 kronor that was the cost of the examination without first asking the sect. That was when Lisa ran away.

-         Normally all the passports were locked in, but as I was in another country, I had been given mine back. When I was at the Swedish consulate to get a new passport, I took a chance. I called my mom who sent money that covered costs for a ticket  to Spain.

-         When I left for the airport I remember that I was hoping for no-one from the Teacher Group to take the same plane. I was still so much in their grip that it would have been enough with them waving a little with their hand and I would have followed them back, Lisa Karlsson says.

From Spain she hitch-hiked home to Sweden. When she finally was examined at the hospital, she received the diagnosis of panic anxiety.

Stina

Stina Fernström has been so far in the Teachers Group that you can come. She got the number 33. Stina was there when sect members sterilised themselves when Amdi didn’t want to pay contraceptives. The argument was that it was egoistic to have children and it would not been allowed. She was there when Amdi Petersen went further and forbade members to have sexual relations. The relationship between comrades within the  Teachers Group must be the strongest.

All women cut their hair short and got defeminized.

When Stina Fernström finally broke up from Tvind it was with a heavy step. She was broken down, without self confidence and could neither laugh nor cry. She didn’t feel worthy enough  to be with, she was not good enough, felt sorry for Amdi Petersen who had to meet her in the corridors. She went home to celebrate Christmas and didn’t return.

At the same time she knew that they wouldn’t let her go that easily. She had been bookkeeper of Amdi Petersen during nine years. She was there when the Teachers Group made their first million to Amdi Petersen. Stina knew every single payment the sect had made. She had all comrades’ names memorised in her head as it was not allowed to write them down.

That Christmas she sat in her mother’s home and knew that within two hours there would be somebody from the sect knocking on the door.

Stina went under ground.

Stina Fernström became member of the Teachers Group in the beginning of the 70’s. Amdi Petersen forbade the members of the sect to read newspapers and to watch TV, while he at the same time built up a strong picture of a threatening outside which mended the group together.

-         Afterwards I have understood some of the oppressing mechanisms. We got almost never enough sleep, which is an efficient way of keeping us under control. Then it was the fact that we never were doing good enough. I was in a situation where I had to always act and he made sure that what ever I did it was the wrong thing. Then one shrinks, says Stina.

The Teachers Group held big meetings where there should be “real democracy”, everybody should be agreeing, or the meetings were not supposed to have a break. Amdi Petersen did, with his charisma and with his verbal ability, get along well. He came with creative proposals that were applauded for long while and then accepted. Once, when somebody had disagreed with Amdi Petersen, it took three days and nights before Amdi got his point through, Stina is telling.

The meetings could appear as a lengthy mobbing sessions. They were each other’s siblings, Amdi Petersen taught the members, that what they had, was the only true love. All others in the society were living on surrogates. At the same time they were each other’s enemies; controlling and criticising one another on the meetings  as they otherwise risked to get criticised themselves.

In the teachers group anybody could get what ever task. Somebody could get the responsibility to build a school.

-         If you didn’t succeed as the task was too big, you anyway had to carry the responsibility, you could not point on the one who came out with the proposal in the first place, Amdi. To get criticism for something that you have tried your best for but had no possibility to manage, that is psychological torture.

After some time it seemed like Amdi Petersen got more and more paranoid. He held armed guards, came home and left mostly at nights, encouraged the members of TG to burn their letters, photo albums and other private things. The Teachers Group was tapped, when you talked about Amdi one should say “The others”. “There are traitors and spies among us”, said  Amdi.

It went so far, that mail was checked through, because Amdi Petersen had explained that there could come bombs in letters. And so was the decision made to kill infiltrators.

-         We were in one of the big meetings, 100-150 well bred Danes and Swedes with middle class background, and we unified decided that we would be able to kill the one among us who was a traitor! Only one person left the room before the decision was made, and that was because she was a nurse and had sworn an oath to always protect lives.

-         Yes, I think I would have been able to kill then, says Stina Fernström today.

One day Stina understood that some members of the sect were more important than others.

-         One could enter a room and understand that they were talking about something we didn’t know about. It was very painful to realise, as we all should be equally important and this included to get the same information.

But what Amdi Petersen had done, was that he had built up a structure with cells where nobody knew about more than his own group. Some could sit in more than one cell. Some nights different groups sat down in their cars and went for secret meetings. In the morning they were back, and pretended as nothing had happened.

-         One became an expert in being double and in keeping a good face, to pretend as one understood what the discussions were about, Stina explains.

Stina knew that it was difficult to leave the sect, to break the psychological ties. It took two years from that Christmas when she broke up until she dared to go to town. She had been living at an old friends’ from the times she was into theatre, before the sect. Nobody knew that she was there, not even Stina’s mother. Still the sect had phoned to the friend and asked for Stina.

One day at Åhléns (a department store), she bumped into one of her old comrades who still today is in the Teachers Group.

-         Stina!

They greeted.

-         Stina, shouldn’t we go and call The others?

Like a sleepwalker Stina followed Marja to the telephone cabin. Marja looked for coins to be able to phone to Amdi Petersen. Didn’t find any.

-         Could you wait here and I will go and change, she said.

Then the powerlessness was broken. Stina put her hand on Marja’s arm.

-         Marja, it is no use calling. I won’t follow you back. I have to go now.

“Teachers Group” rules UFF in Sweden.

The teachers group started to grow in the beginning of the 70’s with the charismatic leader, Amdi Petersen as leader. Strategically the sharp minded leader developed the group into a sect, with all what it means of unindependence and brainwashing. It was found at Tvind, Denmark, and has therefore been called the Tvind movement.

It started with that Amdi Petersen and some of his followers travelled around in developing countries in a used mini-bus. They came home, shocked by the state there, and were inspired to start The Travelling Highschool and The Necessary Teacher’s College. The thought was to educate young people in knowledge about developing countries. The back-thought was to recruit people to the nascent sect Teachers Group. The teachers received state support for the schools and salaries. After a while a third thought was developed: the students could be educated to development work in the third world. At the same time the Teachers Group made contacts to liberation movements in Africa, among others they supported Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.

The movement grew next to other left wing radical organisations and collectives, but was distinguished by not only having common economy, but demanding common time from the members as well and they were pushed to hard work.

When UFF was started up, the big money started to come in. Then the idealistic stamp was fading and the companies started to become plenty. DN has been informed that it was on a straight order from Amdi Petersen, when UFF in Sweden was started up. The concept was simple: Sweden is the country where most clothes of the best quality are thrown away.

The Teachers Group rules UFF in Sweden. All sitting in the board of directors, are in the Teachers Group. They claim it to be a “private matter” and that it has nothing to do with UFF. But the Teachers Group has always ruled, whether it is about UFF-associations, the international development organisation Humana People to People or all the commercial companies, furniture factories and tree plantations that the movement runs. Almost all project leaders for the  around 150 small scale development projects in Africa are members of the Teachers Group. The closer they are to Amdi, the higher up in the hierarchy they can get. The Swedish representatives for UFF, Thomas Gregersen, Trond Narvestad, Jeanette Riise and Kristina Johansson are therefore under straight orders and are in constant contact with the sect leader. Else-Marie Pedersen and other higher up in the hierarchy are controlling that they are doing what they should. DN has been in touch with staff from the Swedish UFF-shops who describe that sect members sent from Denmark – and who don’t introduce themselves – sit behind everybody on meetings and burn documents that outsiders otherwise would get hold of.

UFF in Sweden tries also to recruit members to the Teachers Group from the staff in the shops. The employees are manipulated and have witnessed being convinced to “take action for Africa” and work for free on evenings and weekends.

During the years Amdi Petersen has put on a more exclusive life style. Some months ago he was revealed as a tenant in a etage flat on the exlusive Fisher Island outside Miami, USA, having monthly costs of hundreds of thousands SEK. According to the latest information the whole movement , with teachers and the global capital , are moving to Zimbabwe, where the head quarters of Humana People to People are.  At the same time Petersen’s good friend Robert Mugabe has thrown all journalists that have the task to investigate, out of the country.

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden, 29 December 2001.

Huge amounts of money are channeled into the world wide Tvind-movement, despite the clothes-collector being near bankruptcy.

by Juan Flores and Nuri Kino

UFF, the clothes collector, is threatened with bankruptcy having 136 complaints of missing payments and 4,5 million Swedish Crowns (£304,000 ) in debts. Dagens Nyheter publishes today documents showing that UFF of Sweden is part of a world wide empire of billions, led by the Dane Mogens Amdi Petersen, who disappeared 20 years ago and is wanted [by the police]. He is suspected of serious tax fraud.

A smaller part of the clothes UFF collects in its well-known containers are sold by eleven second hand stores in Swedish towns. But the biggest part of the clothes collected in Sweden is exported and sold in stores in Estonia. A greater part of the money is channeled into the Tvind movement controlled by Amdi. Behind this there are lots of companies hiding in tax paradises.

The associations of UFF in Sweden have peculiarly few members. What looks like independent charity associations are in fact a centrally ruled business activity, led from the Danish head office.

In order to show their seriousness, UFF has got a “90-account” [In Sweden used by acknowledged charity-organisations]. But most of the money collected goes other ways within UFF. The around thousand [coin] collecting cans UFF has placed in stores and restaurants are not emptied in an acceptable way. Instead they are emptied by a man called Göran. UFF doesn’t seem to know his surname.

Big debts in spite of income of millions.

UFF [in Sweden] is being chased by the [tax] enforcement officer. Its debts are almost 4,5 millions (£304,000) and bankruptcy is close, even though clothes donated by the Swedish people are sold for hundreds of millions of Swedish Crowns (millions of pounds). How much of the surplus goes to charity – and where the rest goes – UFF refuses to disclose.

In recent years UFF has owed the head of the tax enforcement district millions. Its debts are almost 3,6 million Swedish Crowns (£243,000) in employer fees and taxes and about 800 000 Crowns (£54,000) to suppliers. The association has received 136 complaints of missing payments and has been threatened with bankruptcy a handful of times. The investigation made by Dagens Nyheter shows that the organisation should reasonably be able to pay its debts.

Last year the Swedish public donated 8900 tons of clothes and shoes through the collection in the yellow UFF-containers. Most of the clothes were sold to a sister organisation of UFF, Humana Baltic Estonia and to the clothes’ agent Garson and Shaw. Humana Baltic sold the clothes further to around ten shops they run in Estonia.

UFF in Sweden refuses to disclose its income but states that about 20 million Swedish Crowns (£1.35 million) have been earned through the sale to the eastern countries.

Humana Baltic has got more than that. According to our sources familiar with the activities, more than 4000 tons of clothes, have probably been sold further for a price of 30 to 60 Crowns (2p to 4p) per kilo. That would give an income of a quarter of a billion Crowns (£16,900). UFF doesn’t run any development projects in Estonia, it is pure business with a surplus that is not going back to UFF but into the international UFF, Humana People to People.

UFF sells clothes exactly the same way in Africa, even though the clothes are donated in the first place. There the selling of the clothes to different sister organisations might have given additional tens of millions Crowns (hundreds of thousands of pounds) that has gone into Humana as well.

According to UFF in Sweden the surplus from the clothes sales goes to to development projects. This is something that many people with experience of development work find hard to believe. Especially if you consider that UFF/Humana collect and sell clothes from some 30 countries around the world.

An African source with a good insight into the activity says that in Lubito alone, a harbour town in Angola, some 12000 tons of clothes from different Humana/UFF-associations were put on the market last year. In the capital, Luanda, UFF has its biggest economical activity with 30 000 tons of clothes sold yearly, he says.

At present UFF in Angola receives about 15 Crowns (1p) per kilo for the clothes sold, which would mean around 600 million Crowns (£40.5 million) per year.

It is hardly believable that the whole surplus would go to the development projects

“There is no possibility to control it either, as they don’t give such information,” says the same source in Africa.

Humana runs more than 150 small scale development projects, that according to a source in a development organisation could cost approximately around 200 million Crowns (£13.5 million) per year. The nine projects that UFF [Sweden] supports directly and that are exposed in their annual report are of that kind, small scale and with a budget of 600 000-700 000 Crowns (£40,000-£50,000). In addition, this cost is shared with different state development organisations, as e.g. Swedish Sida [state development aid association].. Those nine projects cost UFF 3,2 million Crowns (£216,000) in year 2000.

In fact, there should be a huge surplus even after the development projects have been paid. Swedish UFF has consequently refused to explain how this surplus has been used.

“Every UFF- association is independent and has to explain how they use their own means,” says Thomas Gregersen, chairman in UFF in Sweden.

What responsibility do you have for how the donations of the Swedish people are used?

“Each association has got auditors who review the business,” he answers.

Gregersen also has difficulties in explaining why the board of directors during many years made budgets that they have not been able to keep and in that way squeezed incomes out of the association.

“There has been a crisis in the second hand business. We are on our way to work out our economical problems,” he says.

Sect lives on Swedish clothes.

Every time you put clothes into a yellow UFF-container or shop in a UFF’s second-hand store you support the building of the world wide empire that has been called Tvind. It is led by the mysterious Mogens Amdi Petersen, who was this spring charged with tax fraud and is wanted by the Danish police.

UFF in Sweden has been able to deny all charges so far. “UFF is totally independent from Tvind and the Teachers Group”, is claimed by both vice-chairman Trond Narvestad and chairman Thomas Gregersen, only a few weeks ago.

They have tried to avoid responding on whether they are members of the Teacher Group and have called it a private matter that has nothing to do with UFF. The only official connection between UFF and the Tvind movement has been that UFF uses their schools to educate the volunteers that are sent to work at development projects in Africa. This is due to a lack of alternatives for that education.

But look at the fax (published here)

It was written by Trond Narvestad 1999 as a reply to a request from a group of employees who wanted to increase the openness and democracy of the organisation. They wanted an association of many members, that was ruled by democratic yearly meetings.

The fax was to “TG in Sweden” and is crystal clear: TG (Teachers Group) must not lose control of UFF. Narvestad wants an organisation that secures the flow of money to TG, from both “large accounts” and small incomes. One should give the impression of being part of a Swedish tradition. I n reality all UFF-associations in Sweden are ruled by the same five-six people.

Therefore it is only on paper where UFF is a independent organisation – all who are in the board of the business are members in TG and under direct orders.

Today Dagens Nyheter also publishes a document showing the connection between Swedish UFF and the sect leader Mogens Amdi Petersen. Every year UFF sends rather big amounts of money, according to themselves it is about 100 000 Crowns (£6,750), to the Net Up association in Ulfsborg, the cradle of the Tvind movement. Net Up is a recruiting body of Tvind/TG and the address of the invoice is the same as the one Mogens Amdi Petersen – and ten more top names of Tvind – uses as their official address:

The “90-account” is used for the sake of appearance.

UFF has got a “90-account”. It should guarantee that the donations are used in the right way. But for year 2000 UFF accounts only for around 103 000 Crowns (£7,000) in the 90-account which is just a fraction of what they earn.

Included in this 103 000 Crowns, was 50 000 Crowns (£3,500) donated by the association of Development Aid Volvo employees.

“We donated the amount to a special project,” says chairman Sigvard Kunni, who is surprised that UFF lets the money go unmarked into the ’90-account’.

“That is not what we were promised.”

UFF has got around 1000 [coin] collecting cans in shops and restaurants, but despite that it says on the cans that the association has got a “90-account”, the money is not put there when emptied, but into other accounts within the organisation. Last year around 400 000 Crowns (£27,000) were collected through the collecting cans, says deputy chairman Trond Narvestad.

The emptying of the collecting cans is not handled in a correct way says Frii, the Non Governmental Organisations Collecting Council. That is one of the reasons why UFF is denied a membership in the trade organisation.

“When the cans are emptied there should be two persons at the place and the money ought to be recounted in a special way. UFF doesn’t do this”, says Erik Zachrisson, chairman of Frii.

In fact it seems like UFF doesn’t even know who empties the cans. Someone called Göran drives around full time emptying the cans, but what the surname of this Göran is, is not possible for either UFF in Gothenburg nor Stockholm to inform about. Neither do they inform how to get in touch with him.

According to Thomas Gregersen, the chairman of UFF, it is not strange at all that the money collected doesn’t go into the “90-account”.

“Having the 90-account makes all our other accounts possible to be controlled by the Foundation of Control of money Collections (SFI). We do not have to use especially the ’90-account’ “, says Thomas Gregersen.

Why do you want to have a 90-account if you hardly use it?

“We want the SFI-stamp, it shows that we are serious”, he says.

Among the members of Frii it is unusual that the 90-account is not used when collecting with cans.

Lars Sandberg, the director of SFI, admits that there has been questions from different directions about UFF.

“But our checking leans on the fact that all organisations has got an auditor that goes through the economical activity and accounts it to us in the way we have agreed on. UFF does that”, says Lars Sandberg.

Unclear organisation makes checking difficult.

Not only does UFF put the way the money is used into shadow, they also keep double originated associations and misdirecting presentations which makes the insight difficult.

UFF is built with associations in many layers and uses sort of a concern show of accounts which is unusual for charity associations. One association cannot own another. Anyone who wants to know something about the accounts of the business gets the report of UFF in Sweden. Nowhere is it said that UFF is a movement worth billions or that most of the clothes are sold in the east. And anyone who wants to get hold of the annual financial presentation of UFF in Stockholm is in real trouble. That is where the business is. No one eceptmembers are able to get hold of it. And being an association UFF has got very few members. Trond Narvestad says there are 19 members in UFF – divided in two associations. Ten of these members are in the board of directors. According to Thomas Gregersen there are 65 members in total in both associations.

“In the yearly meetings only the board of directors attend and a few more persons”, says Sven Dahne, member of the board of UFF in Sweden.

Dagens Nyheter repeatedly asked Thomas Gregersen to take part of the annual financial accounts report but in vain. On a direct question Thomas Gregersen has chosen to answer how big the incomes and expenses of the association are. It is about 80 million Crown (£5.4 million) in earnings for year 2000, he claims. They come partly from the sales in the second hand shops and partly from the sale of the clothes in east.

By choosing the concern show of accounts for the associations, UFF is able to conduct what information to make public. The result is that UFF in Sweden show assets that are in UFF in Stockholm.

“We have done this to separate the money-raising association from the business activity. Why we include information from UFF in Stockholm in the presentation of UFF in Sweden is because we want to give a picture of our business”, says Tohmas Gregersen.

As UFF is run as a non-profit association with a goal for the common good, the business gets tax reductions. As the surplus is not stated in the accounts there are no possibilities to actually see if the business really is non-profit. There are lots of commercial companies tied to the mother organisation Humana People to People.

Per Olov Johansson, judge on PRV (Patent and registration organ) is very critical of the organisation of UFF.

“To call a business an association means that it has not the same oversight, that the public authorities cannot check in the same way as a limited company. One can also question why UFF with shops is not obliged to pay tax on the income,” he says.

One more strange thing is that the persons that are said to be on the boards of directors of UFF are not doing this according to official lists. Every time there are changes made to the board, this ought to be reported to the authorities but this has not been done in many years. Those running UFF are not shown at all in the official lists. With only one exception, people named have left ages ago. Among them a 72-year -old lady who Dagens Nyheter has contacted. She gets very upset over being set as responsible for the business.

“We have no obligations to report alternations of the board”, says Thomas Gregersen at first.

Then he says that they will put that error in order.

Expressen, Sweden, 21 Nov 2001

By Niklas Svensson and Malin Lundmark

Swedish taxpayers support the cult-like Tvind movement. Among others, the military force donates equipment to UFF, the Swedish branch of Tvind. In addition, Expressen can tell today that several large Swedish enterprises are listed as “partners” of the movement.

In Denmark, just at the moment, one of the country’s most extensive research about economical criminality against the relief organisation Tvindis going on. UFF, which is the Swedish branch of the network, is
internationally called Humana.

- The whole Tvind movement is a cult, where the members are exploited to the maximum. And the money will end up at the leader outside Miami in the USA, says Sweden’s leading cult expert, Karl-Erik Nylund.

On the international webiste of UFF, it is pointed out that large Swedish enterprises support its activity. But the mentioned enterprises don’t want today to have anything to do with the doubtful movement. One of the
enterprises which was claimed to be a “partner” is Arla, owned by farmers.

- It is true that a daughter company donated computers to this organisation. But this does not mean that we are any “partner”. Immediately when I heared of that, I called them and asked them to remove us from their
website, says Katarina Malmström, the information manager at Arla.

Also the IT-Company VM-data is listed as a sponsor. This summer, they donated a number of computers to UFF’s Africa-project.

- We donated approximately a passenger car full, says the informator Anna Brogren. According to her, VM-data can imagine to donate computers to UFF also in future if “a good opportunity appears”.

Even the taxpayers have supported the relief organisation. This happened, among others, by the military force which at least in two cases – in october 1999 and in march of last year – donated surplus material to UFF.

According to lieutenant colonel Thomas Johansson they always consult the national organisation for cooperation, Sida, before the military force decides about assistance.

- UFF was satifying the criteria that surplus material from the military force could be donated, says Johan Schaar, the chief of Sida’S humanitarian section.

It is a fact the all organisation which requested such assistance were satisfying the criteria.

- It is true that those criteria are not very strict. Those are some basic formal criteria, says Schaar. According to the military force, the organisation should be “democratic”, “Swedish” and “should have existed since more than two years.”

- Concering the activity of the organisation, we don’t have any points of view at all.

It does not play any role if leading persons in an organisation are suspected for economical criminality?

- No. But if they would ask us to donate money for various projects, then we would make a thorough investigation. But this is not the case if it is the question of surplus material.

According to Johan Schaar, UFF got at the last time full containers with underware, covers, tools and sets of cutlery from the military force..

- The material obviously should be forwarded to another relief organisation in Mocambique. But what then happened I don’t know.

In a contract with the military force, UFF promises that “on the last day in every quarter, they would report in which way the needed things will have been used for the intended pupose”. But up to now – two years after
the first contribution – they have not seen any such report, according to the military force.

But the Swedish chief of UFF, Tomas Gregersen, claims to Expressen that all economical surplus, as the material of the military force, ended up in various relief projects in Africa.

- I can guarant that each single crown is ending up correctly.

But the colleague of Gregersen, Trond Narvestad, admits that not all donations are sent away – and that they do nto report:

- Unfortunately, some of the material is still on stock. This is certainly our error.

Facts about the taxpayers donations:

Last year UFF received from the military force: 15 000 rain coats, 3 000 rain shawls, 2 000 hand basins, 300 cook dresses, 40 000 towels, 20 000 socks, 5 000 sets of cutlery, 300 tent lights, 100 crowbars, 200 bow saws, 500 camp spades, 200 digging spades and 400 axes.

Facts about the Tvind movement.

TVIND. Started 1970 in Denmark by the teacher Mogens Amdi Petersen. One of the activities is the travelling high school. In fact, Tvind is a multinational empire which, by means of foundations (among others in the
tax havens as the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands), owns enterprises, plantations, shippping-companies and, additionally, scholls (about 40 in Denmark). Somen countries have made investigations and have tried to forbid the movement.

UFF. U-landshjälp från Folk till Folk (Development Aid from People to People), a relief organisation, founded 1979 in Sweden. The activity is based on collecting clothes in yellow containers. According to the Danish police, UFF is a “daughter company” of Tvind. Ten years ago, the Swedsih Sida made a report which showed that only two percent of the profit is used for development aid.

HUMANA. A network of national UFF-associations in 25 countries. The main office is located in Zimbabwe, Africa. At the end of september this year,Humana organised a conference in Denmark in the place of the Tvind
movement. At the same conference, according the Humana’s website, UFF Sweden was present with a worshop.

PLANET AID. The american part of Humana. Patrly works the same way as the Swedish UFF. Led by DAnes, Swedes and Norwegians.

The TEACHER’S GROUP. The executive body within the Tvind movement is the Teacher’s Group. The TG consists of about 500 people and is leading pedagogically and economically.

TVIND ALERT. A website in the Internet, run by journalists and ex-members. There, the Tvind movement is discussed and investigated continuously. According to ex-members who write on this website, the Tvind movement may be compared to a cult.

http://www.expressen.se/article.asp?id=88831

(Expressen, Sweden, July 22nd, 2001)
Also other Swedish public authorities than the defence force has sponsored us economically, says the director of UFF, Tomas Gregersen, that has been educatedin the Tvinds schools in Norway.

In Denmark and Norway the Tvind movement runs many folk high schools for the purpose of educating volunteer workers to projects in Africa.

The students pay the education themselves and the money goes to the Teacher Group the deciding body of the Tvind Movement.
Students and teachers who have left the movement describe it as a cult. That does also the police in Denmark who runs the biggest inquiry of economical fraud in the country so far. It is about the so called environmental fund that was created in 1987 by the Teachers Group.
UFF in Sweden has earlier opposed to the Tvindmovement, but now the director Thomas G says:
- It is true that we cooperate with the Tvind schools in Denmark and Norway. But we don’t have any economical cooperation.
About the latest he later changes his mind:
- We have received some money rom the environmental fund to our projects in Africa.

The fund that now is investigated by the police?
- Yes, that’s right. We have received support from there.

How do you look upon the accusations?
- In my opinion the police has lost the concept of it all. It is a low level on everything. Very low level. Almost under the floor.

So you have some sort of insight in the economy of the Tvind movement – in spite of all?
- Hm… Well. I try to get hold of the truth when I read the newspapers. I have called the schools and asked.

Then you also know that teachers there refuse to cooperate with the police about the investigation that is going on?
- Yes, hehehe… I know about the story. If somebody came and took my computer and said it had nothing to do with me, I would be quite irritated too.

An investigation made by Sida (The Swedish State Aid organisation), ten years ago showed, as Expressen wrote yesterday, that only ten percent from UFF’s surplus goes to development outside the own activities.
- The rest went to our own development projects in Africa. We have authorized auditors who can certify that, Gregersen claims.
He also wants to point out that no one within UFF are suspected by crime.
More silent Tomas Gregersen goes when he gets questions about the founder of the Tvindschools, Mogens Amdi Petersen.

Have you met him?
- Yes, I have probably met him some times.

Don’t you know if you have met him?
- Yes, some times. A couple of years ago.

How do you like him?
- I actually don’t trust the information saying he is a really big leader.

What do you base that on?
- I just don’t buy that statement. But I don’t know his role more closely.

He is suspected for serious economical criminality and gets at the same time 180 000 kroner per month from the schools you are cooperating with – what do you say about that?
- That I have no problems with. If the teachers want to give him money, it is their private issue.

Are you able to guarantee that no UFF-money goes to the pockets of Mogens Amdi Petersen?
- Yes. Our money goes to projects in Africa.

How do you look upon the critics directed towards your cooperation with Tvind?
- It is unpleasant to read all the lies.

Gregersen then confirms that they have had great economical problems the latest years.
- We have had some debts, but we are on a good way to get the economy on a good track.

SIMON LICHTENBERG ADMITS CHINESE TRAYTON MAKES MONEY FOR TG The presumed successor for the Teachers Group-boss, Amdi Petersen, gives an exclusive interview to Danish newspaper “Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten” The business group, Trayton, in China donates one-third of its yearly profit to the Teachers Group (TG). And the Trayton-boss is a member of the TG. The general manager of the Trayton Group, Simon Lichtenberg (Dane, 37 years old) confirms in the interview – which he has read and accepted before publishing. [Editor's note: All the information about himself and Trayton Group that has appeared on this site during the years. Exactly the information that he and the company demanded deleted from this site. The Trayton Group’s lawyers forced the British hosting company to close down this site for several months this summer - until the site changed to a Danish hosting company and started up again.] Simon Lichtenberg came to Tvind when he was 7 years old together with his parents who joined the Teachers Group. For many years now he himself has been a member of TG and has worked for it in Europe, Africa and Asia, possibly elsewhere. Today he is the general manager for the Trayton Group in Shanghai, China – a very fast growing company producing and selling furniture, trading in timber and operating in the computer business. The Trayton Group now has 1,500 employes – and expect to have 2,000 before the end of the year. The furniture factory produces 20,000 sofas every month. Trayton Timber imports timber from West Africa but are about to change to export Chinese plywood. The Trayton Group also runs 18 “Bo Concept” furniture shops in 16 different Chinese cities. This year the Trayton Group’s turnover will be around 550 million Danish Kroner (£50m). The profit will be around 21 million Danish Kroner (£2m). Mr. Lichtenberg’s ambition is that the Trayton Group shall have an annual growth of 30 percent and a faster growth in the profit rate than the present 3-4 percent. Although Simon Lichtenberg claims that he personally owns the Trayton Group, he at the same time also admits that it is owned by Trayton Holding Ltd, which is registered in the tax haven Isle of Man with other TG-members in the board of directors. And he says that one-third of the profit annually goes to the Teachers Group – it means around 7 million Danish Kroner (£635,700) this year. Two-third of the profit stays in Trayton to develop it. “I am a member of the common economy (in the TG) so therefore I share my profit with the Teachers Group”, he says. He calls it “pure speculation” that he is planned to be Amdi Petersen’s successor. He only has, he says, the skills to run a business like Trayton in China, but not to run a much more complex organisation like the TG. “At least not right now. If somebody asks me in 20 years, then maybe I will be ready. Right now I am busy making my business big”, he says.