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The Tvind 'money machine'

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How much is Tvind worth?

Danish police put Tvind's overall assets in cash, property and ships at hundreds of millions of pounds. In 1995, its worldwide turnover was 83 million.    The value of Tvind property in the US is estimated at 10 million, in Denmark at 22 million and its plantations in central and south America at 27 million.  [Source:   Danish police evidence].

Members of the Teachers Group have been paying their 'salaries' into Tvind's coffers for more than 30 years.  Tvind receives money in public donations, subsidies and government hand-outs, as well as grants from other NGOs.    There is a huge profit from the sale of used clothes.    Local authorities pay school fees for emotionally disturbed children.   Would-be volunteers pay college fees in advance and go out collecting in the streets.    Tvind makes money from commercial enterprises in China and the Third World and profits from aggressively-farmed plantations in the Caribbean and central America, and farms in Africa.   Finally, it receives millions of dollars in covert payments from multinational oil companies, because of its close connections with the government in Angola.

Some of this huge ocean of money may go to support aid projects -but the boundaries between charity and commerce have become blurred.    Many people believe the 'aid projects' abroad are only window-dressing.    Tvind's real billions are stashed away in tax havens, invested in profitable land deals and property, or used for the benefit of Amdi Petersen.  If so, this represents one of the greatest frauds on the developing world ever perpetrated.

One of the principal charges made by the Danish police is that Amdi Petersen sanctioned money to be spent on 'environmental projects' knowing there was no actual charity work involved - the illusion was maintained that the money was for charity and it escaped tax, but in fact it was used for other purposes.

Others have claimed that Tvind also uses the high (but often non-existent) 'salaries' of the Teachers Group to evade tax, by giving the impression the money is spent abroad   -   when in reality most stays within the organisation.    In 1990, the Swedish development agency SIDA commissioned the Valdelin Report on UFF which found that Tvind operated an internal money-go-round:  only 2% ever left the organisation.

Main sources of Tvind income

Second hand clothes

Tvind collects used garments for free from the public and sells them, at a  profit, in Europe, America and Eastern Europe.  It even sells them to the poor in Africa.   It does not give the clothes away.   Second hand clothing is one of the most lucrative trades in the world, and behind the 'charities' known as UFF, Humana and Planet Aid is a huge network of import-export companies controlled by members of the Teachers Group and spanning the world.

Companies

Members of the Teachers' Group become secret businessmen, opening up profitable trading ventures  in land, clothes, food, computers, import-export etc. Many are based in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar. the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Belize.   Tax evasion

Fund raising on the street

Trainee Development Instructors are told they  have to pay their way through college and into Africa  -  they are sent on to the streets in Scandinavia and the United States, selling postcards or brochures to passers by.   Volunteers are given unrealistically high targets and  constantly chided not to fail.    The money raised in this way is in addition to advance course fees of around 2,000.   Many volunteers say the money they raised disappeared into Tvind coffers and was not used for aid in Africa.

Schools and colleges

Thousands of pupils in dozens of schools all over the world generate a huge income.   The schools have been dubbed 'a Tvind money machine'.    Solidarity workers in Europe and the USA pay up front and even in Africa, students pay school fees.  In Denmark, the Government pays Tvind teachers' salaries by law and local authorities choose to pay Tvind to educate difficult children.    Volunteer teachers have reported all sorts of scams designed to raise even more   -    false documentation, teachers being registered at more than one school, and so on.

State and NGO support

Tvind is constantly asking for money to support its 'charity work', without disclosing its revenue from commercial ventures.   It constantly applies  -  successfully  -  to embassies, governments, charitable trusts and development agencies such as SIDA and DANIDA.   Among the businesses which give millions of dollars are multinational oil companies such as BP-Amoco, Chevron and Citizens Energy.

Volunteers

Tvind makes money by getting young people to work for nothing   -   or very little   -   in its clothes shops, sorting centres, as drivers, as location scouts, in its schools, and as Development Instructors abroad.    Where people are paid, they are often required to work very long days and told they are letting the side down if they refuse.   NetUp is Tvind's scheme to persuade young volunteers to work for nothing.

The Teachers Group

Over 30 years hundreds of members of the Teachers Group have donated millions of pounds by making over earnings and property to Tvind.  In some cases the money comes straight from salaries paid by outside bodies, which are moved directly into Tvind coffers  -  the teachers work for almost nothing.  If they leave, they get no money back

Plantations and farms

Money quietly invested in fruit farms and plantations in Belize, Ecuador, Brazil, Fiji and elsewhere makes a handsome return.  'Aid projects' in Zimbabwe and other Third World countries are often thinly disguised farming ventures on land Tvind itself owns.

Inflated salaries

Since the 'salaries' paid to TG members are just theoretical, all sorts of creative accountancy becomes possible, provided someone is prepared to sign that they have 'received' the money.  It could go into a Swiss bank account... Here is one example of how this can be used.  Another was revealed by a Danish television programme in 2000.

Other development charities

Wherever it plants a so-called 'project', the first thing the Teachers Group does is apply for funding from other charities such as Save the Children or Unicef. .   Sometimes it gets money and credibility.   But how is the money used?  Is there double funding?  Does it always present an accurate picture.   Payments by oil companies

One thing almost everybody connected with Tvind agrees on is that Tvind is extremely interested in money.  But for whom?

Some useful links:

Danish TV says Tvind guilty of at least $7m tax evasion

Police raid on Tvind for 'tax evasion'

Humana France closed down for tax evasion

"It's all about profit"  -  Henning Bjornlund

Oil revenues in Angola

The money-go-round: the Valdelin Report on UFF

Companies

Volunteers

One thing almost everybody connected with Tvind agrees on is that Tvind is extremely interested in money.  But for whom?

Some useful links:

Danish TV says Tvind guilty of at least $7m tax evasion

Danish TV says Tvind guilty of at least $7m tax evasion

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