Danish TV

Danish TV2  documentary programme, 20th August, 2000

On 20th August 2000 a documentary on Danish TV made several new allegations about Tvind.    Friends of Tvind Alert have provided summaries.   The most interesting material concerns Tvind's so-called Humanitarian Foundation.

This foundation supposedly was to find deserving projects in central and south America, and invite applications for financial support from local people.   Several members of the Teachers group were sent off on the Tvind ship 'Store Claus' calling themselves scientists, paid through a body called IFAS  -  the Institute For Applied Science.

After nine months the ship changed its name and the 'scientists' became a television company making nature films (using cameras 'bought' from another Tvind company).

In fact, the projects did not receive any money.     About 60 million Danish krone of taxpayers' money went to Tvind, instead of needy projects in the Third World.  The Danish tax authorities are investigating, but Tvind has burned the paperwork.

The programme claimed this was part of a plan by Amdi Petersen to prepare the Teachers Group for an end to Danish state subsidies   -    at about the same time, project leaders in Africa and Central America began to be paid huge salaries.    These were financed by clothes sales from Europe.  One project leader recalls travelling with a suitcase full of dollars from Africa to Denmark.

Sources:

[by email]     "Already from the middle of the 80'ies Amdi Petersen started to prepare the economy of TG for the ending of the economic support to the schools from the Danish government.   A lot of projects in Africa and South America were started in order to supply TG with money.    For many years the project workers in Africa from TG had no salary - suddenly in 1992 Britta Junge (former TG member 1977-95) at that time working in Africa had a gigantic raise of salary from nil  to $60.000  a year - they were paid  with the scale of UN salaries - the money from their salary came from  the profit from all the old clothes UFF/Planet Aid/Humana sold in Africa, Europe and Eastern Europe.   She travelled  with a suitcase filled with $ from Africa to Vejle in Denmark where The Foundation was located. She delivered the money to a man called Niels Holst.     Hans la Cour (former TG member 1972-90)  told about his work as a scientist on the Tvind ship "Store Claus" - for 9 months he and some other TG members were employed and paid with money from the "Humanitarian Foundation for research and environment protection"  via IFAS - Institute For Applied Science - to find projects of all sorts in Central and South America and make the people apply for economic support from the "Foundation". The reason for this was to prove that the Foundation was real and that there was a need for it - but in fact the people in the projects never received any money at all. After 9 months the ship changed its name to "The Return of Marco Polo" and most of the crew of "scientists" - really TG members without any education - were changed to a TV production team who received 13 million dkr. from the Foundation and produced some nature films with cameras bought  from another Tvind company.  The Danish Ministry of the Interior has in vain asked Poul Joergensen for copies of all the applications to IFAS  but Poul Joergensen claims they have been burned. If anybody are interested Hans la Cour has copies. The Danish Taxation Authorities ought to be interested as  the amount of money paid in fact by the danish taxpayers amounts to around 60 million dkr. which the Foundation has paid since 1986 to Tvind and not to needy projects around the world."

[by email]   "There has just been the first of two TV - programs on Tvind telling that T has for years been evading tax by several funds which formally are working with developing aid and research in preservation of nature.   Informations were supported by former Tvind members who "happened" to keep confidential material about these affairs.   Tvind did this with money from UFF clothes-sales and the money was only used for rent of equipment from other T companies and for high salaries to teachers who again put the money in funds to avoid tax.   So already the day after this first program, several ministries and organisations are going to work together to work through these cases.  Experts in law and tax say that what has happened is criminal and that many Tvind members might be prosecuted.   Amount mentioned was 60.000.000 Dkr =$7.000.000 app. (Personally I suppose that they have kept much more for themselves)