...διότι "ζούνε" από μίζες εμπόρων όπλων ΕΝΑΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ ΜΕ ΠΟΛΥ ΒΡΩΜΙΑ
Description :
In
1991, arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber made an illegal "donation"
(Parteispende) in the amount of 1,000,000 DM to German government officials of
the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on behalf of the German arms
manufacturer Thyssen in order to obtain official approval
for
Thyssen's sale of 36 type "Fuchs" tanks to Saudi Arabia.
According to a German parliamentary investigation, Schreiber paid the bribe to CDU
party treasurer Dr. Walther Kiep, who deposited the money in a secret German
trust account with the assistance of CDU financial advisor Horst Weyrauch.
Weyrauch received the money in cash from Schreiber in Switzerland and drove the
money to Frankfurt, where he deposited it in a trust account with the private
bank Hauck & Aufha?user held in the name of Weyrauch & Kapp GmbH. From
the trust account Kiep distributed a third of the money each to himself,
Weyrauch and CDU General Secretary Dr. Luethje. The men used the funds for
their own personal benefit and the money was not recorded in CDU party
financial statements. The "money trail" is as follows: Saudi Arabia
paid Thyssen a total of 446 million DM for the tanks even though the deal was
only worth 226 million DM (including profits) according to Thyssen
calculations. Thyssen recorded the additional 220 million DM or 47% of the
total sale as "commissions" (Provisionen), which normally account
for ~10% of such transactions. The aforementioned bribes were paid using this
"commission" money. From the 220m DM in "commissions"
Thyssen received from Saudi Arabia, Thyssen paid 24.4 million DM into a Swiss
account with the Swiss Bank Corporation held by Schreiber's Panama registered
firm "ATG". The German parliamentary report describes a second
bribery payment in connection with the Thyssen-Saudi deal: a payment of 3.8
million DM by Thyssen to Dr. Horst Pfahls, who served as state secretary for
defense in the Kohl government from 1989-1992. Chancellor Kohl initiated the
Saudi tank sale under strictest secrecy in September 1991 and put Pfahls in
charge of executing the deal on behalf of the German government and to
"deal with" opposition to the deal from the German Foreign Office.
Thyssen had concerns it could not produce 36 new tanks in time to meet the
delivery deadline to Saudi Arabia. Pfahls solved the problem for Thyssen by
arranging a deal with the German Army under which the Army would
"lend" Thyssen the 36 tanks for Saudi Arabia. Thyssen would then
repay the Army with 36 new tanks at a later date. In return for this favor,
Thyssen, again acting through Schreiber, paid Pfahls 3.8m DM. Schreiber
deposited the money in a secret Swiss account, codenamed "Holgar",
which Pfahls controlled.
Type of
Illicit activity involving Public Official :
Bribery
Pfahls/ Kiep/ Luethje/ Weyrauch
Case
Control Number:
18
Description
:
In
1991, arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber made an illegal "donation"
(Parteispende) in the amount of 1,000,000 DM to German government officials of
the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on behalf of the German arms
manufacturer Thyssen in order to obtain official approval for Thyssen's sale of
36 type "Fuchs" tanks to Saudi Arabia. According to a German
parliamentary investigation, Schreiber paid the bribe to CDU party treasurer
Dr. Walther Kiep, who deposited the money in a secret German trust account with
the assistance of CDU financial advisor Horst Weyrauch. Weyrauch received the
money in cash from Schreiber in Switzerland and drove the money to Frankfurt,
where he deposited it in a trust account with the private bank Hauck &
Aufha?user held in the name of Weyrauch & Kapp GmbH. From the trust account
Kiep distributed a third of the money each to himself, Weyrauch and CDU General
Secretary Dr. Luethje. The men used the funds for their own personal benefit
and the money was not recorded in CDU party financial statements. The
"money trail" is as follows: Saudi Arabia paid Thyssen a total of 446
million DM for the tanks even though the deal was only worth 226 million DM
(including profits) according to Thyssen calculations. Thyssen recorded the additional
220 million DM or 47% of the total sale as "commissions"
(Provisionen), which normally account for ~10% of such transactions. The
aforementioned bribes were paid using this "commission" money. From
the 220m DM in "commissions" Thyssen received from Saudi Arabia,
Thyssen paid 24.4 million DM into a Swiss account with the Swiss Bank
Corporation held by Schreiber's Panama registered firm "ATG". The
German parliamentary report describes a second bribery payment in connection
with the Thyssen-Saudi deal: a payment of 3.8 million DM by Thyssen to Dr.
Horst Pfahls, who served as state secretary for defense in the Kohl government
from 1989-1992. Chancellor Kohl initiated the Saudi tank sale under strictest
secrecy in September 1991 and put Pfahls in charge of executing the deal on
behalf of the German government and to "deal with" opposition to the
deal from the German Foreign Office. Thyssen had concerns it could not produce
36 new tanks in time to meet the delivery deadline to Saudi Arabia. Pfahls
solved the problem for Thyssen by arranging a deal with the German Army under
which the Army would "lend" Thyssen the 36 tanks for Saudi Arabia.
Thyssen would then repay the Army with 36 new tanks at a later date. In return
for this favor, Thyssen, again acting through Schreiber, paid Pfahls 3.8m DM.
Schreiber deposited the money in a secret Swiss account, codenamed
"Holgar", which Pfahls controlled.
Type of
Illicit activity involving Public Official :
Bribery
Impediments
to investigation:
Bribe
payments from Thyssen were transferred to the public official's via Swiss
accounts held by agent Karlheiz Schreiber's Panama firm ATG. Schreiber withdrew
cash from the Swiss accounts and gave it the the public officials, who then
deposited in their private bank account in Germany.
Most
recent legal action against Public Official?:
Conviction
(Pfahls sentenced to 2 years and three months in prison in August 2005, but
released after serving half of the sentence)
Other
legal action/ other prosecutions:
Conviction
(Thyssen executive Jurgen Maßmann sentenced to two years and six months).
Region:
Hi-Income
Country
of Public Official:
Sources:
German
Parliamentary report "Bewertung durch den Untersuchungsausschuss
"Parteispenden" der 14. Wahlperiode." accessed at
www2.stroebele-online.de/upload/parteispenden_bericht.pdf Wild, Christiane.
"Der Strippenzieher genießt und schweigt, Sueddeutsche
Zeitung." accessed at http://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/139/500405/text/
Nelles, Roland. "Schauble verteidigt Kohl im Untersuchungsausschuss."
Die Welt, Apr. 14, 2000, accessed at
http://www.welt.de/print-welt/article544273/Schaeuble_verteidigt_Kohl_im_Untersuchungsausschuss.html
Karnitschnig, Matthew. "The Kohl Case: Oh, What a Tangled Web."
Businessweek, Feb. 14, 2000, accessed at
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_07/b3668164.htm Komisar, Lucy.
"Offshore Banks Laundered Funds in European Campaign Finance
Scandal." The Albion Monitor, accessed at
http://www.albionmonitor.com/0005a/copyright/laundereuro.html
"Schmiergeldaffare: Ex-Thyssen-Manager verurteilt." Die Welt, Dec.
19, 2005, accessed at http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article185495 Penfold,
Chuck. "Fugitive Pfahls Comes Home -- to Prison." Deutsch Welle Jan.
20, 2005, accessed at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1464092,00.html
Helm, Toby. "Kohl escapes prosecution." Telegraph, Feb. 9, 2001,
accessed at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1321897/Kohl-escapes-prosecution.html
Position
of Public Official during scheme:
Pfahls-Deputy
Defense Minister; CDU financial advisor Horst Weyrauch; CDU party treasurer
Walther Kiep; CDU General Secretary Luethje
Is there
a pending case or appeals?:
Yes
(German criminal prosecution of Schreiber is ongoing at this time)
UNCAC
Articles(s) Implicated:
Money
laundering Implicated?:
Yes
Year
scheme began:
1991
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