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From: Jack Sarfatti Date: 10/24/05 20:33:28 To: david mosier Subject: *** SPAM *** Re: Al Qaeda+Nazi financiers+UN+Iraq: tying it all together
On Oct 24, 2005, at 9:52 AM, david mosier wrote:
This is by Claudia Rosett, who works for Cliff at the FDD. It's long and involved but worth the effort. It names the names of the Nazis financing Al Qaeda, names their front companies and proves the front companies got their money from the UN in a huge procurement deal that netted them in excess of $100,000,000. The UN claims it didn't know the Nazis (who are on the UN's list of known terrorist financiers) were the beneficial owners of the company they paid the hundred million to.
U.N. Procurement Scandal: Ties to Saddam and Al Qaeda > > > By Claudia Rosett, George Russell > > FOXNews.com > October 21, 2005 > > The scandal engulfing the United Nations Procurement Department now appears to be bottomless. It also shows signs of growing more sinister, especially where it involves a mysterious private company called IHC Services, which did big business with the procurement department until it was removed from U.N. rosters in June. > > New details of how dark the scandal could prove to be have emerged from the private sale of IHC on June 3, 2005, just as the procurement scandal was about to break. It now appears that while doing business with the U.N., IHC had links both to Saddam Hussein's old sanctions-busting networks, and to a Liechtenstein-based businessman,
That rings a bell.
> Engelbert Schreiber, Jr., known among other things for his ties to a figure designated by the U.N. itself as a financier of Al Qaeda. > > Registered in New York State, with offices in New York > City and Milan, IHC has been involved in possibly > hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of business > with the U.N. since the mid-1990s, serving both as a > direct supplier and as a go-between for a wide variety > of other contractors. This work has included IHC's > signing or helping to broker contracts for supplies > ranging from portable generators to rations for U.N. > peacekeeping troops in such trouble spots as West > Africa and the Middle East. > > IHC came under public scrutiny this summer, after FOX > News broke the story on June 20 that IHC had > maintained especially close ties with Alexander > Yakovlev, a Russian official in the U.N. procurement > department, who while handling an IHC contract with > the U.N. had obtained a job for his son with the > company, and had also been channeling funds to a > secret offshore bank account. > > Yakovlev resigned two days after the story broke. On > August 8, he was accused by Paul Volcker's > U.N.-authorized probe into the Oil-for-Food scandal of > taking more than $950,000 in bribes on $79 million > worth of U.N. contracts. Yakovlev pleaded guilty in > Manhattan Federal Court to charges of corruption, and > he became a cooperating witness in the continuing > federal investigation that last month led to the > indictment of Vladimir Kuznetsov, head of the U.N. > budget oversight committee. Kuznetsov says he is > innocent. > > Amid all this, one of the big mysteries has been: Who > were the people who owned IHC? The answer still lies > hidden behind a maze of front companies and > affiliations that zig-zag from New York to Milan to > the financial havens of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. > But from documents finalizing the sale of IHC on June > 3, 2005, some further details can be gleaned. > > Corporate board minutes of IHC, obtained by FOX News, > had mentioned a “sole shareholder” of IHC. The sole > shareholder, according to the June sales documents on > IHC, turns out to have been an even more mysterious > company called Torno S.A.H., based in the financial > haven of Luxembourg. And Torno, in turn, had two major > shareholders who approved the sale of Torno's 100% > interest in IHC. One of these shareholders was a > Milan-based businessman, Dario Fischer, a director of > IHC since at least 1996, who at the time of the sale > was chairman of the board. > > The other shareholder in Torno S.A.H., who gave his > proxy to Fischer to approve the sale, was a man named > Engelbert Schreiber, Jr. He has been linked, either > directly or through father-son family business, to a > number of Liechtenstein enterprises affiliated at > various times from the 1970s through at least the year > 2000 with Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, a man designated as a > terrorist financier by the U.S. and U.N. shortly after > Sept. 11, 2001. > > A naturalized Italian citizen, Nasreddin operated for > decades out of Milan and Lugano, Switzerland, both as > a businessman and a member of the terrorist Muslim > Brotherhood, some elements of which morphed into Al > Qaeda. In 2002, Nasreddin, along with a number of his > enterprises, landed on the U.N.'s list of individuals > or entities “belonging to or affiliated with Al > Qaeda.” He is now believed to be in Morocco. > > The Schreiber father-son connections with Nasreddin > are labyrinthine, but they are a subject familiar to > trackers of terrorist money. Engelbert Schreiber, Sr., > served from the 1970s through the 1990s in a variety > of legal capacities on a number of Nasreddin-related > enterprises registered in Liechtenstein. The name of > Schreiber Jr., -- who cast his proxy this June in the > sale of IHC -- appeared in the year 2000 on > Liechtenstein registry documents of the Wahda > Charitable Foundation, which had Nasreddin on its > board of directors, and in 1993 on the Liechtenstein > registry documents of the Nasreddin Charitable > Foundation. In both cases, Schreiber Jr. was named as > liquidator, which in Liechtenstein tends to entail > significant discretionary powers. > > Both Schreibers, father and son, have been named among > the defendants in a 9/11 lawsuit brought in 2003 by > the estate of former FBI counter-terrorism expert John > O'Neill, who died in the terrorist attacks on the > World Trade Center. The lawsuit alleges that, > according to Liechstenstein official documents, one of > Schreiber's businesses, Schreiber and Zindel, was “a > legal entity involved in money laundering activities > on behalf of Al Qaeda.” That suit is now pending a > motion to dismiss. > > In a sworn declaration pertaining to this lawsuit, > signed May 20, 2005, Schreiber Jr. attested that while > he visited the U.S. on a number of occasions between > 1988 and 1998, he has never done business either > directly or through an agent in the U.S. IHC sales > documents show that two days earlier, on May 18, he > had given his proxy to Fischer, in Milan, to approve > Torno's sale of New York-registered IHC. > > Schreiber also had a link to the U.N. Oil-for-Food > program in Iraq, as a legal representative of a > Liechtenstein-based company called Napex, which was > among those approved by the U.N. to buy oil from > Saddam's regime under the 1996-2003 relief program. A > report released last year by CIA chief weapons > inspector Charles Duelfer alleged that Saddam's regime > allocated oil to be sold to Napex in 2002, shortly > before Saddam's government fell. There is no public > evidence that this oil was actually shipped. > > IHC itself turns out to have a connection with > Saddam's former networks by way of a shipping company > based in Jordan, Petra Navigation Group, which > advertises itself on its Web site as IHC's agent in > the Middle East, and has also been a registered vendor > to the U.N. since mid-2003. That's a big change from > Petra Navigation's earlier history; from 1991 to 1994, > the U.S. Treasury placed Petra Navigation on the > blacklist of firms blocked from doing business with > the U.S. on grounds of sanctions-busting activities > related to Iraq. > > In 1994, Treasury lifted the block on Petra > Navigation's offices in Egypt and Jordan, but Petra > Navigation's office in Baghdad is still on Treasury's > blacklist “on account of claims involving Iraq,” > according to the Treasury order maintaining the > designation. Asked repeatedly by FOX News to explain > these connections and circumstances, Petra Navigation > did not respond. > > The timing of Petra Navigation's arrival on the U.N. > Procurement Department vendor list raises questions > about whether IHC might have been involved in Petra's > approach to the U.N. Petra Navigation was registered > on the U.N.'s list of approved vendors on June 27, > 2003. Less than a month later, on July 10, 2003, Petra > signed an agreement to act as IHC's “exclusive” agent > in the Middle East, according to a notice posted as > recently as this week on Petra Navigation's > English-language web site. > > Both IHC and another of its business partners, Eurest > Support Services, both now the subject of various > probes, have recently disappeared from the U.N. > registered vendor list. Petra Navigation is still on > it. > > What exactly these connections amount to, or how IHC > came to occupy its special niche with the U.N. > procurement department, is not clear. But it seems IHC > changed character following an earlier change of > ownership in the late 1980s. The company was founded > in the U.S. in 1944 under the name of International > Manufacturing and Equipment Company, or IMECO, as a > small business dealing mainly in spare parts for > construction and mining. In 1988, IMECO, merged with > another U.S. company, Hofortech, to become IHC. > > According to the then-owner, Ernest Ulrich, > interviewed by phone recently in New York, IHC soon > after the 1988 merger was bought out by a big > construction company that Ulrich remembers as based in > Milan. Ulrich says that under his ownership, IHC had > done no business with the U.N. He says he continued > working for the company for a few years after he sold > it, then left in the early 1990s and has had nothing > to do with it since. Ulrich does not recall any entity > such as the Torno SAH in Luxembourg that had evidently > acquired control by the time of this year's sale of > IHC. > > There is a large international construction firm in > Milan with a strikingly similar name to that of Torno > S.A.H. – the Milanese company being Torno S.P.A. FOX > News has not found any direct connection between the > Torno SPA in Milan and the Torno SAH in Luxembourg. > Torno S.P.A. in Milan did not respond to repeated > queries, nor did IHC's current chief executive > officer, Ezio Testa, who has worked in IHC's New York > office for years. > > FOX News has, however, come across one indirect link > between Torno S.P.A. in Milan and IHC – via the name > Angelo Simontacchi, a man who served in 1996 on IHC's > board of directors, according to IHC board minutes. > According to another set of documents obtained by FOX > News, there was an Angelo Simontacchi who, on behalf > of Torno S.P.A. in Milan, signed a contract in 1984 > enlisting the consulting services of another firm, > Dumyntha Co. Inc, based in Lugano, Switzerland, to > help bid on work for Saddam Hussein's Ministry of > Trade, related to a Baghdad trade fair in > pre-sanctions Iraq. Queries to Torno SPA about > Simontacchi also went unanswered. > > By 1997, Simontacchi had left the IHC board, but > another man with ties to Iraq had signed on as an IHC > director. He was Giandomenico “Gianni” Picco, a > veteran of many years on the U.N. staff, but at that > time working in the private sector. Picco, who hails > from Milan, had worked for the U.N. from 1973-1992, > helping in the late 1980s to negotiate an end to the > Iran-Iraq war. In 1992, just before leaving the U.N., > Picco had also led a round of the early negotiations > with Saddam's regime over setting up the U.N. > Oil-for-Food program in Iraq. > > Later that same year, Picco left the U.N. and founded > his own private consulting business, New York-based > GDP Associates. According to a report by U.S. Senate > investigators, Picco on a number of occasions from > 1997-2003 was consulted by an American oilman doing > business under Oil-for-Food, David Chalmers — who was > indicted in April for allegedly paying kickbacks to > Saddam's regime. Chalmers has pleaded not guilty. > > Picco's arrival on IHC's board came at roughly the > same time that IHC appears to have first established > ties to the U.N. On Dec. 22, 1996, according to the > U.N., the company was registered on the U.N. > Procurement Department's list of approved vendors. > That was the same month that the U.N. Oil-for-Food > program began operation in Iraq. > > From 1998 until at least February, 2000, Picco went on > to serve as chairman of the board of IHC Services. > During that time, in August 1999, he accepted an > overlapping appointment by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi > Annan to serve as a U.N. undersecretary-general and > personal representative for Annan, starting in August, > 1999, working on a project called the Dialogue of > Civilizations. That project has ended, but Picco is > currently a special adviser to Annan, with a contract > in force until 2006. > > In June of this year, as the procurement scandal > broke, and shortly after IHC was sold, the U.N. > quietly suspended IHC from its list of approved > vendors. But that has only drawn another curtain of > secrecy over the issue. > > Behind this maze the question still looms: Who during > IHC's seven years doing business with the U.N. was the > real beneficial owner of this mysterious company? > Liechtenstein figures such as Engelbert Schreiber, Jr. > make most of their living by serving as stand-ins for > others in one of the world's most important centers of > false-front corporate affairs. In an attempt to > discover the real owner, FOX News has queried, among > others, various former and current officers of IHC, > including Picco, as well as Schreiber and Petra > Navigation. None of these has responded. > > At the U.N. itself, a spokesman says, “Current > practice is that the names of beneficial owners of > companies are not requested.” That practice, adds the > spokesman, “is now under review.” > > Claudia Rosett is journalist-in-residence with The > Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. George > Russell is executive editor of FOX News. > > > © Copyright 2005 The Foundation for the Defense of > Democracies > an iapps site > > > > __________________________________ > Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
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