Teachers Group Clothes businesses 1987 - 2008 |
Clothes collectors, traders and sales
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Offshore companies
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Bankrupted or gone out of business |
Acacia Enterprises (P) Ltd (India) [Status: unknown] This is one of the companies listed as a 'sales agent' by Garson & Shaw Inc (2002). Address: D-69, Gulmohar Park,
2nd floor,
New Delhi 110 049, |
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Ajuda de Desenvolvimento de Povo para Pov Since mid 1980s. Three countries in Africa. See also DAPP. Teachers Group family of enterprises in African countries: ADPP in Portuguese-speaking nations, DAPP in English-speaking countries. ADPP and DAPP operate schools, agricultural schemes and social projects in Africa that are supposedly funded by charitable clothes donations in Europe. Most ADPP / DAPP enterprises in Africa have local subsidiary companies that sort and sell imported clothes and shoes, run shops, farms and plantations.
Founded 1986. This enterprise is notable for the large sums paid to it by oil multinationals through the Angolan government 'social fund', Sonangol, and corruptly passed to Teachers Group funds. Former ADPP treasurer and whistleblower Britta Junge revealed in an interview with Danish TV in around 2000 that much of this money was taken by air from an Angolan bank to be paid into Teachers Group bank accounts in Denmark. Britta Junge's account. Full story on the Angola page. Associated Teachers Group members: Rikke Viholm, Anne Lausen, Ole Thomsen.
Deeply associated through other local Tvind companies with generating hard currency through used clothes sales and constructiion work. Associated Teachers Group members: Ulla Brit Envall, Marja Hedlund and others ADPP Guinea-Bissau.
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Agence Notre Dame Ltd (United Kingdom)
(name changed from Customlong Agencies Ltd, 1993)
[Dissolved]
UK registered company, 1991-1997. Originally identified as a Teachers Group company by a journalist in Rotterdam. This is part of a 1990s family of Anglo-Dutch Teachers Group trading companies run by Joop Nagel, Flemming Gustafsson and Peter Hansen. It may have traded in used clothes, or in furniture - the Teachers Group is said to have a furniture factory in Mozambique. It was also probably a holding company for the important clothes company EC Trading.
(A visit to its address in the UK in 1996 revealed it to be a small seaside terraced house, most probably an accommodation address.)
Made pretty much a paper loss according to accounts found in Holland. According to some rather confusing information, it may have been at some stage 'an offshore company registered in the Dutch Antilles' ('because it was so profitable').
Company information:
Company registered number 2578843 (Incorporated 31/01/1991 - dissolved 05/08/1997)
Traded in 'furniture & associated goods'
Address when founded: 1 Nelson Street, Southend on Sea, Essex
Structure:
Name originally changed (1993) from Customlong Agencies (1991-1993).
Parent company of: White Hall Procurement (Amsterdam) in which it held shares, and of EC Trading BV (Holland) Associated companies at the same address: Notre Dame Ltd Fashion (tel 020 7631 3280), Notre Dame Hol [?] (tel 020 7437 5571). No information.
Registered address: Bridge Ho, London Bridge, SE1
Directors:
Josephus Nagel (St Maarten, Dutch Antilles) - director and company secretary
Fleming Gustafsson (Amsterdam, Holland) - shareholder
Peter Hansen (Rockville, Florida, USA) - shareholder
Turnover stated to be over £2m.
[status: probably no longer trading]
Moroccan clothing company. We were informed of this company by a Moroccan former employee.
Company information:
Address: Rue El Haouza angle Rue El Gara, Oukacha, Quartier Industriel, Casablanca, Maroc
Tel: +212-22-66 08 88, +212-22-66 37 59, Fax: +212-22-66 54 48
Website: www.casacreation.com (no longer live but archived by www.tvindalert.com)
Associated Teachers Group members (c 2006):
Tone Kvaestad (General Manager)
Gertrud Cortsen (Sales Manager)
[status: uncertain]
Morocco. Precise name and address uncertain, but believed to be a factory or factories making new clothing, and wooden containers or furniture for export to Europe. This Teachers Group 'secret' company was first detected by the 1990 Swedish forensic accountancy report on UFF, the Valdelin report. It was reported in Rotterdam Dagblad in 1995.
Company information
Possible address: Rue Amyot d'Inville, Angle Rue Soldat Emile brunet, Casablanca 05
Structure:
Subsidiary of Teachers group offshore company International Emergency Centre and ultimately owned by offshore holding company Talata, registered in Guernsey and with a Cayman Islands telephone number.
Associated Teachers Group members
Anne Nielsen - senior member of TG Economy
[no longer trading]
Franco-Moroccan company. Clothes shipping.
Operated from about 1991-1996. Believed to be a Franco-Moroccan company, part of the Teachers Group trading network between the Third World and Europe. It is believed to have shipped new clothes from Tvind's factory in Casablanca to Rotterdam, then back to Third World countries.
One informant wrote to us in around 2000: "Probably, CCTT after a time took over the role of the International Emergency Centre. CCTT was a Franco-Moroccan enterprise, established in France (Paris) with accounts at Barclays Bank in Paris and London. The owner of CCTT was Dollarforge Ltd (London), which belonged in turn to two companies in the Channel Islands. CCTT [placed orders with?] the enterprise in Casablanca. New clothes were shipped to Rotterdam and re-exported from there to destinations further afield, notably Africa. It is highly probable that even the shipping belonged to Humana People-to-People. The known list of Humana People-to-People companies tends to confirm this. Also, there is the name Transco Shipping Ltd, part of a complex construction of companies established now in Guernsey, now in Hong Kong, or in Jersey. Behind these PO box addresses, are always hidden loyal members of the Teachers Group. [Source: Belgian NGO Report]
Structure
Subsidiary of UK-registered holding company Dollarforge Ltd
Associated Teachers Group Members:
Kirsten Fuglsbjerg (manager) - charged with fraud and currently (2008) on the run from police
Hans Jorgen Lausten (manager)
(name changed from Goliath Services in 1990)
[no longer in business]
Jersey registered company. Clothing trade. "Secondhand general outfitters and tailors". Active in the early 1990s
Offshore company registered in Jersey, whose two main shareholders (Vaeth and Sorensen) were founding Teachers Goup members with Cayman Islands addresses. According to a Guardian report of 1993, Humana UK paid Cedex Pack thousands of pounds in 'leasing charges' for the clothes collection boxes it used in Britain.
Company information
Shareholders' address: P0 Box 103, Bodden Town, Grand Cayman
Shareholders
Thomas Vaeth - one of the original TG founders
Svend Sorenson - also original TG founder
Josephus Hermanus Maria Nagel - signatory of key TG trusts
This name is used in the UK by the CICD and the associated Green World Recycling / Planet Aid / DAPP UK companies to collect used clothes.
See our dossier
[ceased trading]
Holland. Used clothes sales agency.
This was a classic underhand Teacher's Group 'middleman' clothes company, working closely and in secret with related Teachers Group enterprises to cream off as much profit as possible for the Teachers Group organisation while passing as little as possible to charity.
In this case Conmore distributed used clothes for Garson & Shaw Ltd, a London-based TG company, which had itself 'acquired' the garments on favourable terms from Humana and UFF. In its web site Conmore described itself as 'sales agent for the international organization Garson & Shaw Ltd', selling used clothes and shoes on their behalf in Europe, Africa and Asia. In particular, Conmore described itself as 'the representative of Garson & Shaw in Western Europe and in Eastern Africa. We well specially to large importers, graders and other customers who buy large quantities of un-graded and graded used clothes'
Conmore was established very soon after the unexpected bankruptcy of EC Trading in 2000, owing £1.4 million, taking over most of its operations. Conmore in turn has ceased trading.
Company details
Established 26th Feb 2001. Now out of business.
Registered address was: Keizersgracht
316, 1016 EZ Amsterdam (company forwarding address)
Also at: Straatweg 30C, 3604 BB Maarssen
Directors
Flemming Gustafsson (manager) - recently on the run from Russian security services after alleged timber fraud
Birgit Dinesen-Jensen - has been in trouble with Dutch and Hungarian police
Inger Lise Jepsen - now working for Garson & Shaw Inc in Atlanta, USA
Fred de Borst (principal shareholder)
Customlong Agencies Ltd (United Kingdom)
[Dissolved]
UK registered company. Name changed to Agence Notre Dame Ltd, 1993
Development Aid from People to People
Since 1980s. Four countries in southern Africa. See also ADPP. Teachers Group family of enterprises in African countries: DAPP in English-speaking nations, ADPP in Portuguese-speaking countries. DAPP and ADPP operate schools, agricultural schemes and social projects in Africa supposedly funded by charitable clothes donations. Most DAPP / ADPP enterprises in Africa also have clothes schemes often with local subsidiary companies sorting and selling imported clothes and shoes.
Subsidiary companies: DAPP Clothes and Shoes, Zambia, DAPP Wholesale Clothes, Zambia, DAPP Wholesale Shoes, Zambia.
Development Aid from People to People UK
UK registered charity.
Charity details:
Registration number: 1118290. Registered 08/03/2007
Address:
Development Aid from People to
People UK,
25 Outram Street,
Stockton on Tees, Durham
TS18 3EW,
tel: 07908852794 or 01912 5658875
Objects: education, training & development worlwide and relief of poverty.
Trustees
Anne Marie Madsen (company secretary)
Trond Narvestad
Susanne Windisch
Full name Textile Transformation EC Trading
[Went bankrupt, May 2000]
Amsterdam. Used clothes trading.
This company was declared bankrupt on 23 May 2000 owing 5 million guilders (about £1.4 million, €2,250,000). Of the approximately 40 trading partners declared to the receiver, all but a handful were Humana, UFF or Planet Aid enterprises in Europe or the US. Money owed to these 'charities' was 'lost' and never seen again, but by then it had disappeared into Teachers Group coffers.
However the lion's share of the money (£4m gulders, £1.1m) was owed to five Teachers Group 'offshore' companies: Holland Trading Ltd, Holland Enterprise Ltd, Holland House Ltd, and World Wide Suppliers (all registered in Gibraltar) and Brichwood Trading Company (registered in Ireland). All five were subsidiaries of Teachers Group holding company in Jersey. This money was also 'lost' into the TG. According to reports, two of these companies have themselves since gone bankrupt, but only after large dividends were paid to the Teachers Group directors and shareholders. Read our dossier on the bankruptcy of EC Trading.
Company details
Registered address: Oudezijds Voorburgwal 266, 1012 GL
Structure
Part of a family of Anglo-Dutch Teachers group companies run from a terraced hose in Southend on Sea, Essex, UK. Subsidiary of UK registered TG company Customlong Agencies (later Agence Notre Dame Ltd). Not clear what happened after Agence Notre Dame was dissolved. Therefore a sister company of Procurement White Hall Agency.
Directors (2000)
Flemming Gustafsson - recently (2008) wanted by FSB for alleged Siberian timber scam
Poul Joergensen (2) - now running U'SAgain in Atlanta, USA
Kirsten Kristiansen - no information
Sven Pedersen - possibly now in Africa, at Kwa Zulu Experimental College in Durban
Freightforwarders Marco Polo (Netherlands)
[dissolved]
Amsterdam. 1995-2000. Transport specialising in used clothes.
Company information
Registered address: Oudezijds Voorburgwal 266, 1012 GL
Established on 29 November 1995, dissolved 1 June 2000
Directors:
Poul Jorgensen (2) (Director and sole shareholder)
Full name: The Gaia-Movement Trust Living Earth Green World Action
See our dossier
Used clothes collection and 'work for the environment'. This name is used both in the US and in the UK and other parts of Europe.
Company details:
Unknown association with similarly named Gaia Movement Trust Association established in Switzerland (see below)
Directors:
Eva Nielsen (CEO) - also trustee of Swiss Association with same name
Helle Lund (manager) - previously director if Humana UK when closed down by UK authorities in 1996-7
Elton Davis
Full name: The Gaia-Movement Trust Living Earth Green World Action
See our dossier
Used clothes collection and 'work for the environment'. This name is used both in the US and in the UK and other parts of Europe.
Company details:
Unknown association with similarly named Gaia Movement Trust Association established in Switzerland (see below)
Gaia-Movement Trust Association (Switzerland)
Ful name: The Gaia-Movement Trust Living Earth Green World Action
Association, Switzerland. (1998)This is a Swiss Association with many powerful and significant Teachers Group members on the board. When Tvind Alert checked this out in 2000, this appeared to be an accommodation address in a commercial block near Geneva Airport, in offices used by a Geneva-based lawyer. There was a forwarding address to a Teachers Group address in Amsterdam. We spoke to the named contact, Geneva Lawyer Michael Rogers, who appeared unaware of any charitable work and said his main role was to forward mail to Amsterdam. Reported in Independent on Sunday (UK) 2000
Company information
Address: Route de l'Aeroport 10, World Trade Center, Geneva
Founded May 1998
Board members
Founding trustees (1998): Peter Kjaer (Fiji, president), Lilian Ekbom, (Fiji, vice president), Jonas Israel (Borneo), Søren Sørensen (Belize) Andreas Stier (Belize) Michael Rogers (Switzerland)
Trustees (2007)
Anders Svensson (Bording, Denmark)
Bodil Sejeroe (Paris)
Lilian Ekbom (Taveuni, Fiji)
Peter Kjaer (Taveuni, Fiji)
Lotte Loeffler (Copenhagen)
Eva Nielsen (Chicago)
Birgit Soe (Rugby, UK)
Elsebeth Soendergaard (Skaerbaek, Denmark)
Michael R. Rogers (Mies, Switzerland).
See our dossier
US, Atlanta. Commercial TG clothes trading company.
Garson & Shaw Inc is a commercial clothes trading company that buys clothes from the Teachers Group clothes charities (Humana, DAPP, UFF, Planet Aid and U'SAgain etc) and sells them on through a big network of sales agents. On its oiriginal website the company stated it did not sort or grade clothes: 'Garson & Shaw does not grade clothes ourselves but we work as collectors representatives for several charities in Europe. We are therefore able to sell the clothes directly from the collections without extra costs.'
The countries where the clothes are sourced were listed on the same website as Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Austria. Destination countries and regions were listed as Western Europe (Amsterdam), Ukraine (Kiev and Dniepro), Romania, Slovakia, Russia (Moscow, St Petersburg and Nizny Novogorod), Ghana, Benin, Kazahkstan, India, east Africa and central America). The website listed a large network of sales agants around the world - several of these still exist:
Company details
Address: 949 W Marietta street, Office X-109, Atlanta, GA 30318, United States
Directors and staff (2000-2)
Allan Foighel (CEO)
Ann Jonsson
Julie Jarrard
Zaida Dolmo
Bill Houghton
Structure
Garson and Shaw is also believed to have an office in Gibraltar (see below). A UK office, registered as Garson & Shaw Ltd, (also below) remained open for several years but is now closed.
Detailed information about the company structure was originally included on the company website. This information has now been removed. Originally, it revealed a relationship with the Dutch Teachers group company ConMore BV and listed sales agencies around the world, many staffed by Teachers Group members. Sales agencies included: Conmore BV (Holland) - now defunct, Trade Link Romania, Kiev Trade (Ukraine), Trade Link Ukraine Dnepro, Textile House For Euro Trade s.r.o. (Slovakia), Trade Link Moscow, IstWood (St Petersburg), Trade Link Nizny Novogorod, Tropical Trading (Benin, Ghana), Trade Link Almaty Ltd (Kazakhstan), and Acacia Enterprises (P) Ltd, (Delhi).
Garson & Shaw Ltd (United Kingdom)
See our dossier
[Ceased trading]
UK registered company based in London (1999-2004)
This company operated for several years from the 29th Floor of One Canada Square - the Canary Wharf Tower in London's docklands. According to some sources, this was a small rented office space with little more than a fax machine. Some sources placed the 'real' address in Gibraltar at Garrison House, Library Ramp, Gibraltar
According to unconfirmed sources in Germany, Janice Jane of Garson & Shaw Ltd was the sales agent for Humana's companies in Germany trading clothes with Romania and Byelorussia.
Company details
Company number 03796147. Incorporated 25/06/1999. Ceased trading 31/12/2004.
Wholesale clothing and footwear.
Registered address: Wilkins Kennedy, Bridge House, 4 Borough High Street, London SE1 9QR
Structure
Private limited company. Ceased trading 2004, but directors below remain shareholders.
Directors
Eva Vestergaard (Belize) - company secretary (2007)
Inger Lise Jepsen (Georgia, USA)
Ann Jonsson (Georgia USA)
Sven Hougaard Pedersen (Togo)
[status: unknown]
International clothes trading. Buying and selling from Humana and UFF charities to Teachers group sales agents
Company details
Address: Garrison House, Library Ramp,
Gibraltar
Unknown relationship with Garson & Shaw Inc and Garson & Shaw Ltd
Directors unknown
[no longer trading]
Jersey. Manufactured/leased clothes collection bins in UK. Name changed to Cedex Pac Ltd, 1990, qv
[status: unknown]
USA. Collecting clothes in Michigan area for IICD.
In February 2004 a contact wrote::
Get this - I recently brokered a load of used clothing from a supposed small time collector in a small town in Michigan - we got there to watch the loading early in the morning - I started making small talk with the workers - turns out these collections were for an IICD school in Michigan -TVIND!!!! all the way - I ended up meeting a 25 yr senior TG member running the whole thing - good friends with Amdi.
The deal didn't go through G & S [Garson and Shaw] but rather a company called Great Lakes Trading. Amazing!!!! I have her cell phone if you want it.
it just blew my mind that this was Tvind. We loaded at an IICD school out in the middle of nowhere in the woods of southern Michigan about 2 1/2 hours from Chicago. The students of the school actually loaded the truck!! Not only do they pay tuition to the school but they are free labor to load the trucks. The person running the show was a 25 yr. senior TG member named Annaken, don't know her last name. She told me she was close personal friends with Amdi!! She doesn't live anywhere but rather travels constantly overseeing various Tvind operations. I quizzed her on many things including the Floryl plantation in Brazil which she gave me details and information I couldn't believe. We discussed the accusations and negative media coverage surrounding Tvind and, shocker, she said it was ALL LIES!!! I just couldn't push her too far because she was so defensive, she was on the verge of asking me to leave. Anyway, she was a fascinating person. Very smart, cheerful, well organized etc. I asked her why we did not send the money for the load to Garston and Shaw. She said Great lakes Trading handles different accounts. Same people.
Anyway, these people are like nazis when it comes to business. They don't miss a beat. They don't lose.
Green World Recycling Ltd (United Kingdom)
UK registered company
Company details
Company number 03558720. Incorporated 30/04/1998. Miscellaneous business.
Address: Unit 15, The Hayes Trading Estate, Folkes Rd, Lye, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY9 8RG.
Structure
Private limited company.
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Directors
Torben Soe (Lutterworth, Leicestershire) - secretary (2007)
Rolf Jakobsson (Winestead, East Yorkshire) (2007)
Ulla Praestgaard (Skoerboerk, Denmark) (2007)
Torben Soe (Lutterworth, Leicestershire) (2007)Previous directors:
Ann Margaret Jonsson (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Marianne Korbmann (St Petersburg, Russia)
Holland Enterprise Ltd (Jersey and Gibraltar)
[status: uncertain]
Jersey and Gibraltar. Used clothes.
Information from 2003 Danish police report
Directors:
Birgitte Larsen - financial official from Tvind Economy (Danish police report)
Karen Thorst
Karin Palmelund
Holland House Ltd (Jersey and Gibraltar)
[status: uncertain]
Jersey, Gibraltar. Used clothes.
A key Tvind used-clothes offshore clothes trading company, with addresses in Jersey and Gibraltar. Holland House appears to act as an agent, buying and selling clothes between other Tvind companies, especially Stichting humana in the Netherlands.. According to our information, Holland House has good connections with partners selling used clothes in eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Romania.
Company information
Offshore company registered in Jersey with operating premises in Gibraltar
Addresses: 24 College Lane,
Gibraltar, Tel: +35 0 47 009
Registered office:
8 Church Street,
St Helier,
Jersey
Directors
[in liquidation]
Offshore company registered in Jersey. Used clothes.
Directors
Company information
Very little information available. A web search reveals a very old web site headed 'Holland Trading, the Noble House of Second Hand Clothes' and another giving addresses in the Netherlands, Hungary, Amsterdam and Ukraine. We do not know if these are connected to the Jersey-based Holland Trading identified by police.
Humana and PlanetAid Finance SA (Switzerland)
Switzerland. Société anonyme. Established January, 2005. . Address: avenue Louis-Casaï 18. Officers are Michel Haessig (Veyrier, Geneva - president), Niels Holst (Roskilde, Denmark), Helle Lund (Geneva) and a Swiss company, Berney et Associés SA Société Fiduciaire, à Genève. Full details at http://www.tiny.cc/geneva2.
Worldwide. Headquarters: Shamva, Zimbabwe
Worldwide, in most European countries as well as China, India, and Africa. Its main function is collection of old clothes in charity boxes, door to door collections, and fund-raising. Proceeds from the sale of clothes are supposedly passed to DAPP and ADPP schemes in Africa for humanitarian work. In China, India and some parts of Africa, Humana takes the place of DAPP / ADPP as a local project resource manager.
Clothes are sold in Humana's own shops in Europe, shipped to Africa to be sold in DAPP / ADPP shops, or traded on the international used clothes market, often ending up for sale in eastern Europe. However there is powerful evidence that before onward sale to any of these other companies, clothes are passed to and fro between different Teachers Group-owned 'middleman' clothes brokerages, often in Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar or Holland, to inflate their commercial value and minimise the money passed to charitable giving and reduce tax liability. At the same time, Teachers Group project leaders in DAPP / ADPP handling the clothes are paid large salaries, money that derives from the clothes sales but is returned to the Teachers Group because of its 'cooperative' structure.
It is almost impossible to follow the money raised by Humana clothes sales. In Britain, Humana UK was closed down in 1998 because of suspected fraud.
Directors (2004)
Helle Christensen (president)
Katharina Feldmann, (vice president)
Henning Mörch (treasurer)
Jytte Nielsen (secretary )
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
1998. Originally founded in Lithuania as Humana Baltic with up to 12 shops and a sorting centre. . No longer listed under this name by Humana and there is no separate web site. Now appears to run as Humana Estonia and Humana Lithuania.
Humana Baltic Vilnius listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Collections and shops closed, 2006
Humana Brussels and Gent listed as having been trading partners of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
New - possible new name for UFF Denmark
New - possible new name for UFF Finland
No longer exists. Active until 1996, when the Association Humana France closed down when the French Government classed it as a business, not a charity, and so liable for business taxes. It was also labelled a cult in a French Chamber of Deputies report. Previous to this we have two recorded addresses in Paris and Lyon, and many senior Teachers Group members were involved, including, at various timesand positions: Eric Dorph-Jensen, Elisabeth Molnar, Poul Joergensen, Jesper Wohlert, Birgit Jensen, Jytte Nielsen, Karin Bolin, Per Albinus and Keld Duus
Humana Paris and Lyon listed as having been trading partners of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Humana Second-Hand-Kleidung GmbH
In Germany since at least 1988. This foundation created around 2000, when two separate enterprises (Humana Kleidersammlung GmbH [Humana clothing], a private business, and Humana Kleidung für Entwicklung Gemeinnützige GmbH - [Humana clothes for development], a charity) were dissolved and a new single company created, in around 2000. Humana in Germany is very active with many shops and clothing bins.
Company details
Head office address: Köpenicker Str. 45, 12355 Berlin
Humana Berlin and Cologne were listed as having been trading partners of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Previously active but no longer listed by Humana web sites
Company information
Addresses: Athens Humana People to People, Kalvou 77 and
Athens Humana People to People, Gonari Dimitrio Street
Contact: Karina Wallin
Humana Athens listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Stichting Humana Nederland
See our dossier
In Netherlands for many years, this foundation created 2001. (Two previous enterprises, Stichting Humana Fondsenwerving [fundraising] and Stichting Humana Hergebruik [used clothes collection], were dissolved the same year.) There is a huge clothes reclamation centre at Bunnik, Netherlands, with more than 60 employees, and sorted old clothes are exported weekly in lorryloads to Eastern Europe. Stichting Humana collects clothes from all over Europe and has a very strong relationship with the offshore 'Holland House' and related companies in Jersey.
One correspondent wrote in 2001: 'More than 60 people are employed by the association and they frankly don’t care if Humana is corrupted or not as long as they received their wages. Humana creates jobs and have a benefic activity in clothes recycling. What I found not acceptable is that they pretend to be an humanitarian association while they work as a private company. Under the praiseworthy aim of collecting the most clothes they can and donate it to their ADDP programs in Angola and Zambia, they are looking for their own profit. If not why is the money going to Jersey ?.....'
Directors (2002)
Per Jensen
Erik Dorph-Jensen
Jesper Wohlert (Spain)
Kare-Sven Dahne - now returned to Denmark
Pauline van de Stadt (Ireland)
Two previous directors of Humana companies, the Dutchman Robbert van Baaren and the Danish woman Jytte Nielsen are no longer registered.
Humana Bunnik listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Since 1998 but no longer listed by Humana web sites and not thought to be active.
Humana Dublin listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Since November, 1998. Within two years the Piccola Societa' Cooperativa a Responsabilita' Limitata had more than a dozen employees and was run from Pogliano Milanese near Milan by threeTeachers Group members: Ulla Carina Bolin, Helle Christensen and Eduardus Willem Mattheus Fonck. Still very active.
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
New - possible new name for UFF Norway
Since 1998. Very active.
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Nothing now in existence, but Slovenian company Humana d.o.o. may have been registered
Humana Cooperacion al Desarrillo
Since about 1990. Very activeCompany details
Address: Asociación HUMANA,
Polígono Industrial Montguit c/Tona, 1-5, 08480 l'Ametlla del Vallès, Spain
President: Jesper Wohlert
Humana Barcelona was listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
New - possible new name for UFF Denmark
[Closed down by UK Charity Commission, 1998-9]
UK charitable company, registered 1987. Removed from Teachers Group control, 1999. The charity was renamed Traid and is no longer associated with the Tecachers Group.
From 1987-98, Humana UK collected and old used clothes ' for DAPP in Africa'. In 1993, the Guardian ran a series of newspaper articles pointing out that only a small proportion of the money raised by Humana was going to charity. In 1990, only ten per cent of its turnover went to charity. Humana UK was placed in receivership in 1997 after an investigation by the Charity Commission that found 'serious financial impropriety'. The following year the charity commission removed all trustees and relaunched the clothes operation charity under new management. Before closure Humana UK had run seven charity shops, and hundreds of distinctive wooden collecting bins throughout the UK. These have all disappeared. Read our dossier on the closure of Humana UK.
The same year, the Teachers Group responded by opening two new clothes enterprises in the UK, Planet Aid UK and Green World Recycling, which are both companies. It opened a new charity, DAPP UK, in 2007.
Charity and company details
Charity number 297489. Registered 13/08/1987.
Address on registration: Red House School, Buxton, Norwich, Norfolk
Company number 2143753.
Address on incorporation: 62 Doughty Street.
Structure
Holding company: acquired assets of Resources Recycling Ltd in 1987 and became a shareholder in 1989
Directors (1990-1999):
Mikala Gottlob - director (1990-1999), company secretary (1992-97)
Helle Lund - director and company secretary (1995-Sept 1998)
Ellen Moeller
Lena Eriksson
Jytte Nielsen
Humana Transport (Netherlands)
[status uknkown]
Dutch-registered company. When we researched this 'transport company', we found an unlikely address, mobile phone numbers and answering machines, and a name from the Tvind Teachers Group - and no answers.
The late Han Gommeren, who carried out this research in around 2001, wrote of this company: "Owned by one man who works alone, according to the registration on the Companies Registry. Trade name of his firm is Wiman, a company in ‘second hand stuff and export to Poland’. But the address which is registered with the Companies Registry is false, just like the telephone number. And if one asks for the right telephone number, a tape says ‘I’m Huib, you can call me on my mobile’. Dial the mobile number and one speaks to ‘Edwin’ who says he really doesn’t know any ‘Huib’…
The owner of Humana Transport (or Wiman) appears to live in the same street some houses further along in Driebergen-Rijsenburg in the middle of the countryside between farmers houses, where cows must come out in spring. A strange place for a logistic company, one might think. Again we’re not able to ask for an explanation. The owner of Humana Transport (or Wiman) can’t be reached by telephone. At least, we don’t succeed.
Despite this and many other known facts on Humana/Tvind, the Central Bureau for Fundraising (CBF) in Holland time after time declares that Humana Holland is a transparant organisation which benefits the poor in the Third World. It more likely looks as the weird world of both Humana and CBF."
Company information:
Address: Driebergen-Rijsenburg, near Bunnik.
Directors included Jytte Nielsen
International Emergency Centre (Offshore)
[no longer in existence]
1980s. . Despite its name, this was almost certainly nothing more than an offshore company, or perhaps not a company at all - a way of creaming off money from charity clothes sales into Teachers Group coffers. In 1989 and 1990 Humana UK paid large sums to this organisation at an address in Belgium. But there was no such organisation, no foreign aid, and on investigation no organisation of that name anywhere at all. Further inquiries led to a registered address for IEC at a DAPP office in West London, and a phone number in the Cayman Islands - the same telephone number as one of the Teacher's Group farm offices there (Tropical Produce Ltd).
It seems likely the missing money was actually used to finance the Teacher's Group's profit making 'Casablanca' clothing enterprise in Morocco. Forensic accountant Jan Valdelin, hired by the Swedish Government in 1990 to investigate what UFF Sweden had done with the $2m a year paid to it by the Swedish aid group SIDA, said: "We are now wondering where that money has gone and I am very interested in what they are doing in the Cayman Islands and Africa" (Source: the Guardian, Caymanian Compass).
Ist-wood St Petersburg (Russia)
Russia. Clothes trade.
This is one of the companies listed as a 'sales agent' by Garson & Shaw Inc (2002).
Address: 24th line V.O., House #31, St. Petersburg 199026, Russia
Teachers Group member: Anita Hornbeck (Director)
[status: unknown]
Ukraine. Used clothes
This is one of the companies used as a sales agent by Garson & Shaw Inc in 2002. No name was given and without further details we cannot know if this was a Teachers Group company or run independently. G&S website stated: 'Kiev Trade runs Second Hand shops in Ukraine. At Kiev Trade we sell loads of clothes from Garson and Shaw. We can also import the clothes for you and organize transport directly to your warehouse.'
Address: 2, Kaysarova str., room No 1, Kiev, 03022, Ukraine
Marco Polo Transport (Netherlands)
See Freightforwarders Marco Polo Transport BV
Read our dossier
USA. Used clothes trade
Fred Olsson, Mikael Norling, Ester Neltrup and others
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
UK registered company
Company details
Company number 03655609. Incorporated 23/10/1998.
Address: 33 Maylan Road, Earlstrees Ind Estate, Corby, Northants, NN17 4DR.
Structure
Private limited company. Miscellaneous business.
Listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Directors
Birgit Soe (Swinford, Leicestershire) - director and secretary (2007)
Helle Nielsen (Bogense, Denmark) (2007)
Jesper Wohlert (Barcelona, Spain) (2007)Previous director
Merete Utke Schioler (Bunnik, Holland) (1998)
Procurement White Hall Agency BV (Holland)
[status: uknown]
Around 1990-5. Holland. Used clothes trade. This Dutch-registered company was one of a family of Anglo-Dutch clothes and furniture companies owned by the Teachers Group. The holding company was Agence Notre Dame, run from a terraced house in Southend on Sea, Essex. (Source: Rotterdam Dagblad.)
Company information
Registered address: Oude Zijdsvoorburgwal 266, Amsterdam
Directors: Flemming Gustafsson (1995)
Structure: Subsidiary of Customlong Agencies/Agence Notre Dame
Resources Recycling Ltd (United Kingdom)
UK registered company. Incorporated 1986 (?)
This company appears to have been used to hire vehicles to Humana UK for clothes transport. In 1993 the Guardian reported that "The charity [Humana UK] was also paying almost £10,000 a year to lease vehicles from Resources Recycling, registered at the same London address as Humana."
Company information
Company number 02057368. Incorporated 1986 (?). Dissolved 08/07/1997. Vehicle hire and clothes recycling.
Structure
The company ceased trading in 1987 and its assets were transferred to Humana UK the same year. Dormant by 1992.
Directors
Vibeke Jensen (Brussels) - secretary (1986)
Kirsten Moeller (Brussels)
Lars Joergensen (c/o Humana shops, London)
Jan Bjorke (Red House School)
Merete Larsen (Red House School)
Hanna Hansen (Wembley)Shareholders:
Jesper Wohlert (Kilburn)
Vibeke Jensen
Humana Ltd
Seabridge International BV (Netherlands)
[status: unknown]
Around 2000. Holland. Second hand clothing and shoes.
Company information
Address:
Kaizersgracht 316, Maarssen, 1016 EZ Amsterdam
Directors: Inger Lise Jepsen,
Fred de Borst
France. Paris-based used clothes company. We have no idea what this company did or why Humana needed a second clothes company. When Humana France was closed in 1996, the company moved to the Essonnes area. Company manager in 1996 was Per (Torsten Freddy) Olsson - who now runs Planet Aid in the USA
Textile House For Euro Trade s.r.o. (Slovakia)
[status: unknown]Slovakia. Used clothes
This is one of the companies used as a sales agent by Garson & Shaw Inc in 2002. No name was given and without further details we cannot know if this was a Teachers Group company or run independently.
Address: Balkanska , Cesta, Rusovce 851 10, , Slovakia.
Textile Transformation EC Trading BV (Netherlands)
See EC Trading
Textiles Bougainville SARL (Benin)
[closed]
Togo and Benin, West Africa. Before 2002. Used clothes. Briefly run by a Teachers Group Member who contacted us to say that the company is closed and he has now left the organisation.
[status: unknown]
Eastern Europe and central Asia. Used clothes
This is a series of similarly-named companies listed as sales agents by Garson & Shaw Inc in 2002. In most cases no names were given and without further details we cannot know if these were Teachers Group company or run independently. The exception is Trade Link Romania where the contact was Danish and a likely member of the Teachers Group.
Trade Link Almaty. Kazakhstan. Used clothes. Address: Auezova 2, 480012, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Contact: Jorge Alejandro Romero
Trade Link Moscow. Russia. Address: PP Avtostroj, Pasolok , Mosrengen, Leninsky Rajon ,Moscow, 142771, Russia
Trade Link Nizny Novogorod. Russia. Address: Ul. Pushkina 36A, Nizhny Novgorod.
Trade Link Ukraine Dnepro. Ukraine. Address: Prospekt Truda, 9, 49041 Dnepropetrovsk
[status: unknown]
This is one of the companies listed as a 'sales agent' by Garson & Shaw Inc (2002).
Address: Trade Link Romania SRL, Bl. Unirii 45, bloc E3, Sector 2 App 54, Bucharest, SECTOR 3, Romania
Teachers Group member (assumed): Jane Nielsen
[status: uncertain]
Offshore clothes shipping and distribution company owned by the Teachers Group. Probably registered in Guernsey, Jersey or Hong Kong. According to our information, CCTT placed orders with the Moroccan company 'Casablanca' for clothes ultimately re-exported through Amsterdam to Africa. [Source: Belgian contact, 2002].
Trans World Trading (Netherlands)
See Unicorn Trans World Trading.
Morocco. Clothing. Believed to be a Teachers Group import-export company moving clothes from Casablanca, closely linked to Casa Creation SARL
Tropical Trading Ltd SARL (Benin)
[status: unknown]
Benin and Ghana. Used clothes. This is one of the companies used as a sales agent by Garson & Shaw Inc in 2002.Address: Tropical Trading Sarl, 01
B.P. 5767,C/140
Missèbo, Cotonou
, Republique du Benin. Also an unknown address in Ghana.
Teachers Group Member: Bodil Sejeroe Olsen
Ulandshjaelp fra Folk til Folk
Scandinavia's equivalent of Humana People-to-People elsewhere in Europe - and also run by the Teachers Group. Originally, UFF boxes were yellow containers. Recently, some UFF boxes have been replaced with green 'Humana' boxes, with indications that the UFF companies may be wound up and reopened as Humana.
In the early 1990s, an official report into UFF Sweden, the Valdelin Report, reported that only a tiny amount of the money raised by UFF was given to charity, with most of the money staying inside the UFF organisation to be 'recycled'.
UFF Copenhagen and Aarhus listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
UFF Helsinki and two other locations listed as having been trading partners of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
UFF Oslo listed as having been a trading partner of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
The 1990 Valdelin Report reported that only a tiny amount of the money raised by UFF was given to charity, with most of the money staying inside the UFF organisation to be 'recycled'. In 2001-2, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter ran a series of investigative articles, questioning how UFF Sweden used the money it raised and alleging that huge amounts of money were being channeled into the Teachers group worldwide.
UFF Stockholm, Gotenburg and two other locations listed as having been trading partners of EC Trading, went bankrupt May 2000
Unicorn Trans World Trading (Netherlands)
[out of business]
Holland. Used clothes
Jonas Israel, Hans Joergen Lausten, Lars Malte Hansen, Joop Trompert. Closed.
See our dossier
USA, Chiacgo. Commercial trade in used clothes (despite statements of charitable intent). Subsidiary of Fairbank Cooper, Lyle. Used clothes. Mattias Wallander, Poul Joergensen (2), Ann Jonsson, Lisa and Borge. (2003 info)
Used clothing, Benin & Ghana
[status: unknown]
World Wide Suppliers (Jersey)
Jersey. Birgitte Larsen, Karen Thorst, Karin Palmelund. Reported to be in liquidation.
92 companies