NEWS

Tvind clothing factory in Morocco has closed

Casablanca, May 2005:     Tvind's clothing company in Morocco has closed down, according to a source in Casablanca.

Two Teachers Group import-export companies, named as Casa Creation Sarl and Tratexte, have now been identified to Tvind Alert.    But Casa Creation is said to have closed its doors in December 2004, with the loss of 150 jobs.

According to our source, Tvind's Moroccan clothing business has been in financial trouble for months.   Tvind may have pulled out of Morocco altogether after 23 years.

Both businesses are linked to a web of offshore Teachers Group operations and to long-established Tvind companies in Paris and London, which have operated clothing factories in Morocco since about 1982.

The Background

The Teachers Group has operated clothing factories in Morocco for years.   According to reports, this is where the Teachers Group 'uniforms'  - low grade suits and dresses issued to paid-up TG members - were made.     At one time, Teachers were expected to dress in these outfits instead of buying their own individual clothes.   The Tvind factory, until now referred to only as 'Casablanca' opened in around 1982.

Wooden containers for Humana and UFF have also been made at a Tvind factory in Morocco, then sold or leased back to other Tvind companies.

The original Tvind clothing import-export company was CCTT, registered in France and Morocco.  It is known to have operated from at least 1991 to 1996 and may still exist as the parent company.  This company is thought to have shipped new clothes made in Morocco through Rotterdam to Africa.  CCTT is itself part of a complex web of Tvind companies based in the Channel Islands.    Among its managers in the 1990s was Kirsten Fuglsbjerg (one of eight Teachers currently on trial in Denmark accused of fraud).

Casacreation and Tratexte

In classic Tvind fashion, the two newly identified companies seem closely linked to CCTT - as implied by their names, Casa Creation and TraTexte.   However the web of ownership is extraordinarily complex and involves many parent and offshore companies.

According to our informant, Casa Creation is owned by 'a company in London', the 'International Emergency Centre'.  This entity is an not a charity but an offshore Tvind company, possibly based in the Cayman Islands, which is known to have received tens of thousands of pounds in 'donations' from Humana UK in the 1980s-90s.  The IEC is - or was - a subsidiary of Talata, another key Tvind offshore company.    It could be an important Tvind financial clearing house, sought without success by officials and journalists in Britain, Holland and Belgium.  Characteristically, Tvind has denied any connection to the IEC.

Tratexte, according to our informant, is owned by 'a company in Paris', CCTT.    CCTT is - or was - owned by Dollarforge, itself a subsidiary of Camberley and Radmoor, two key Tvind offshore companies.   We do not have any further current information about CCTT.   This web of offshore companies is central to the Danish police investigation into the $25 million Humanitarian Foundation alleged fraud.    It would be interesting to know if CCTT and the International Emergency Centre still exist, where they are based, who are the directors, and how they link into other current Tvind operations.

Casablanca factory closes

The following information has been passed on by our contact in Morocco.   From 1990 a Norwegian member of the TG, Tone Kvaestad, ran Tvind's clothing operations in Morocco.   In about 1997, Casa Creation was opened.     New textile manufacturing machines were bought from Germany, and clothes made in Morocco exported to Europe and Africa.    In 2000, a Danish member of the TG, Gertrud Cortsen, arrived in Morocco to work alongside Kvaestad.  We do not have further information on Tratexte, but it seems likely it is a Tvind import-export company handling the clothes made by Casa Creation.

In 2003, according to our sources, Casa Creation began to run into trouble, and the cash flow began to dry up.     Tone Kvaestad's enthusiasm for Humana People-to-People did not lessen, however, and she persuaded some Moroccans to enrol as Development Instructors in Zimbabwe and Malawi and also to plan more clothing ventures in Morocco.  Humana People-to-People is believed to work in Morocco using the organisation's Spanish NGO names.

But in August 2004, Kvaestad unexpectedly returned to Europe, and did  not come back.

In December 2004, Gertrud Cortsen also left Morocco.   Casa Creation closed, with the loss of many jobs.   The company's web site is still present and does not indicate any information about this.   It is not clear if Tratexte has also gone out of business.

Anyone with further information, please let us know.

Quotes:

"When I was a teacher at mainstream schools nearly all my salary went to Tvind.  For about two years I only had 11 pence per day to live on.  Tvind in return gave me some pocket money.  Tvind even provided us with things that we needed for work and home including clothes.

In about 1982 we were told by Amdi Peterson at the meeting that we should not be seen buying anything from a shop not even a pair of socks and underwear.  For a while, we were given clothes which were made at a Tvind factory in Casablanca.   These did not suit any person and did not fit."     

       [Source:  Steen Thomsen, ex Teachers Group member]

"On apprendra assez vite que HPP dispose d'une entreprise de fabrication de ces vêtements neufs dans la région de Casablanca au Maroc .

"On y produit pas uniquement des vêtements.    Les fameux 'conteneurs' en bois - remplacés ce dernier temps par des conteneurs en métal - seraient également fabriqués ici.....

"......Il est probable que CCTT a repris pendant un certain temps le rôle de l'IEC.     CCTT était une entreprise franco-marocaine, établie en France (Paris) avec des comptes Barclays Bank à Paris et à Londres. Le propriétaire de CCTT était 'Dollarforge Ltd.' (Londres), appartenant à son tour à deux autres compagnies dans les Channel Isl. CCTT plaçait des commande auprès de l'entreprise à Casablanca. Le vêtement n!euf était transporté jusqu'à Rotterdam et réexpédié de là"

[Source: Belgian NGO report]