Interior Agency issues warning on Scientology recruitment strategy

Hamburg, Germany
February 24, 2001
http://www.welt.de
Die Welt

The Scientology Organization in Hamburg is apparently trying to lure young people into their sect with a new recruitment strategy. According to statements from the Interior Agency's Task Force on Scientology, many young people have been addressed in the vicinity of the organization's headquarters on Dom Street in past weeks. The recruiters, however, do not do anything that would identify them as members of the Scientology Organization, the Task Force said on Friday in an unmistakable warning about the new sect concept.

Young people were engaged in conversation by asking them if they have ever heard the name Albert Einstein. Afterwards the recruiters asked their targets to follow the Scientology adherents. The Interior Agency requests that children or their parents who encounter this get into contact with the Task Force on Scientology.

At the same time the Hamburg agency warned about a flyer which the sect used to recruit with all across Hamburg, a "harmful substance test." The invitation to take this was was said to be a recruitment measure for the so-called "Purification Program" by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard. It is given at the start of every "career" in Scientology, and is administered primarily in the United States.

Scientology defends itself against Caberta's Statement

From: "Yahoo! Schlagzeilen - Politik " Wednesday, 25. November 1998, 17:18

Hamburg (AP) On Wednesday Scientology defended itself against statements against it made by the Hamburg state authority assigned to Scientology, Ursula Caberta. She had stated to journalists on Monday that the Hamburg Scientology center was suffering from financial problems and dwindling membership. The number of departees from the Hamburg center, on a percent basis, "is far less than that of the church overall," said Scientology. They further state that in Hamburg, Scientology members are even offered money by the Constitutional Security Agency for their departure. The press conference in the state offices was not able to whitewash the fact that the Constitutional Security Agency has nothing to show after its one year surveillance of Scientology, stated the organization.

AP-Nachrichten - The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press, alle Rechte vorbehalten

Hamburg, Germany
September 19, 2000
taz Hamburg

Members of the Scientology Organization protested yesterday in front of the Hamburg Interior Agency. The approximately 50 demonstrators demanded, from their banners, an "end to discrimination" and the explanation of the accusations of corruption against the Director of the Work Group on Scientology of the Interior Agency, Ursula Caberta. The organization accused her of having accepted money from U.S. Scientology critic Bob Minton. Last week, Scientology filed a criminal complaint against Caberta at the Hamburg State Attorney's Office for suspicion of accepting favors, taking a bribe and money-laundering. Caberta denied the accusations of corruption: she said that Minton had invited her and that he only paid for her travel into the USA and her stay.

The Scientologists pay homage to their master

Exhibition in Bieberhaus hovers between personality cult and unintentional comedy

Hamburg, Germany
July 26, 2000
Die Welt

by Ralf Jaksch

It was shortly after 11:30 a.m. when a visibly worn press spokeswoman, surrounded by American assistants, opened the exhibition about the "Life and Work of L. Ron Hubbard" in the Bieberhaus near the main railroad station. And about 250 Scientologists went.

With champagne and hors d'oevres the visitors looked at the exhibition about the sect founder, but the Scientologists weren't allowed to say that. Friendly but firmly one was instructed that Hubbard was referred to as a "founder of religion."

Overall, one got the impression in the Bieberhaus that Hubbard must have genuinely performed thousands of dare-devil feats. The press spokeswoman pointed out constantly that all the works ever printed by the Master came to 149 million copies, among them such "classics" as "Typewriter in the Sky," "Evil Triumphant" and "The Horror" [not sure of actual English titles].

But Hubbard was more than that. The illustrated chapters of his paths of life were described in "The Boy Scout," "The Adventurer," and even "The Flyer." Pictures of the man who died in 1986, who was edging into corpulence even in his early years, looked down upon the guests from all walls. And on each wall, in the middle of all the photographs, the golden words of the Master could be read.

These words, from which his believers in the ranks draw deeper and deeper insights and recognitions, are not completely preposterous, nor yet are they anything new. For instance, the "founder of a religion" said, "The author who has gotten a lot from the world will find out that his mind is full of material." That is a little reminiscent of the tales of a world traveler who never went anywhere.

And so it goes. On another board it is stated that the Master not only was an author and script writer and not only did he found a religion - he also enriched the fields of drug rehabilitation and the resocialization of criminals. Here the visitor can also partake of Hubbard's findings, "The drug scene encompasses the entire planet. It is marked by blood and human suffering." He also published the "Textbook of the Human Spirit" with the deep insight that there is a "higher goal" and a "more glorious victory" than "burnt-out cities and people killed by radiation." That is enlightening.

Really the event should have presented "Battlefield Earth," which is based on one of Hubbard's books and in which Scientologist John Travolta played. That played on the side - it could only be seen on one screen. But even a Hollywood star takes a break when the master announces deep insights.

Scientology in Chorus

Hubbard exhibition in the city's "Bieberhaus" -
meant as movie advertisement

Hamburg, Germany
July 26, 2000
taz

Mrs. Kiessl says "Guten Tag." "Guten Tag" answer a hundred people in chorus. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, they call out "eins-zwei-drei" and Ute Mydla-Kiessl cuts through the red ribbon that blocked off the entrance to the exhibition on the life and work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The Scientologists chose the location with care: up until last year, the Interior Agency's Work Group on Scientology, which always warns people about the sect, used to meet in the same building. Holding the exhibition in this location was absolutely "symbolically meant," said Mydla-Kiessl "to advance communication."

Rainbow Representative Julia Koppke sees that more like a provocation, besides, the building belongs to the city and is managed by the municipal "Sprinkenhof AG" company. "Spri-AG" board member Holger Koester fell back on the rental contract with the New Broadway, which he said offered him "no possible of interfering." That is because part of the exhibition includes the movie based on Hubbard's science fiction best-seller "Battle for the Earth" [sic], and that type of gathering is part of the movie theater operator's "lease purpose". Koppke demanded the rental agreement be terminated.

The exhibition used colorful display boards to present the personality cult: "Ron" the Boy Scout, who obtained 21 meritorious badges within 75 days of early 1924. Ron the Flyer, the Researcher and the friend of mankind who fought illiteracy, cured drug addicts and re-socialized criminals. Everything strictly scientific, just like his primary work, "Dianetics, the modern science of mental health," on which Scientology is based. As an author, his books were said to have sold 149 million copies - most of them were trivial literature: pulp fiction which, just as amazing as "Dianetics," have been translated into 52 different languages.

Although Scientology is supposed to a religion with practical applications which lead to "spiritual freedom," it proved difficult to get information from church members. Most of them pointed to Ute Mydla-Kiessl, who was doing the press work: what is Scientology about? About survival as the smallest common denominator and, apart from that, living as well as possible. Is there a soul? Yes. What happens after death? "I'll tell you when it happens," said Mydla-Kiessl. knoe

Sprinkenhof: no preventing exhibition

Hamburg, Germany
July 21, 2000
Hamburger Abendblatt

The exhibition planned by the Scientologists about the "Life and Work" of their founder L. Ron Hubbard in the state-owned "Bieberhaus" starting July 25 cannot be prohibited. That is according to Holger Koester, board member of the state-owned Sprinkenhof AG, which manages the Bieberhaus.

The exhibition is actually taking place in the "Broadway" movie theater which is located in the Bieberhaus and which is leased to an operator. The operator is using the exhibition to advertise for a movie with John Travolta based on a Hubbard novel. That is his business, Koester stated, and the Sprinkenhof does not have any influence in what he schedules. It is not regarded as an extension of the lease. As reported, the "Gruppe Regenbogen" reacted with "complete non-comprehension" to the announcement that the exhibition was going to occur and asked the Senate whether there was a clause in the lease agreement which excluded an extension of the lease to Scientology.

Scientology increasing activities -

Looking at Driving Schools

The "OSA" intelligence agency is spying on more opponents of the organization - "Valentino's" is hosting an exhibition opening for Scientologists

Berlin, Germany
April 7, 2000
Die Welt

by Insa Gall

With massive financial support and personnel from the USA, the Scientologists are again increasingly active in Hamburg. It is primarily the organization's intelligence service, the "Office of Special Affairs (OSA)" which has significantly increased its activity in recent times, reports Ursula Caberta, Director of the Work Group on Scientology in the Interior Agency. It is reported that organization opponents are being increasingly spied and eavesdropped upon and harassed. The Scientologists are also appearing in greater number on the streets, Caberta warned.

After they have been partly squeezed out of the real estate business, the Scientologists in Hamburg currently have their sights set on driving schools, among other things, according to Caberta. There they find young people who are open-minded to their attempts at infiltration. "That causes us worry," explained the Director of the Work Group. The Organization also has their first day care center in Hamburg.

Today the Scientologists in Hamburg are opening a wandering exhibition with which they hope to whitewash their negative image. Even though color pictures and glossy brochures are being distributed which are supposed to deceive the public about the true goals of the organization, "Valentino's" is seeing to the cocktails. That is because the exhibition is being hosted in the same building as the catering business on Valentinskamp. The Great Hall on the second story is often rented by "Valentino's" for events. The restaurant is doing the catering for the Scientologist, as proprietor Toens Haltermann has verified. "We are not delivering to the church, but to the people who are visiting the opening of the exhibition," he defended the catering. "For us, that's business like anything else."

Robert Minton, one of the sharpest Scientology opponents in the USA and currently a guest in Hamburg, believes, in contrast, that the organization is extremely dangerous: Scientologists are said to have constructed a paramilitary group in the USA which trains in the desert with pistols and rocket launchers and is modeled after the U.S. Marines, reported the 54 year old man.

In Hamburg, according to Ursula Caberta, the Scientology Organization is "practically bankrupt." After the Scientologists left behind bank rent in the amount of 1.6 million marks in their move from Steindamm, charges have been filed for fraudulent bankruptcy.

Today the power struggle between Caberta and the Scientologists is going into a decisive round. The Administrative Court must decide whether the security and technology statement developed by the Hamburg Work Group and in use all across Germany may continue to be used. By using the form ("I declare that I do not operate according to the technology of L. Ron Hubbard"), businesses can obtain information about whether the companies with which they do business belong to Scientologists. The organization has sued against the practice, but two applications for temporary orders have been dismissed.

Scientology moves into the city

Sect Central in the USA said to have bought the new building on Dom Street

Hamburg, Germany
November 24, 1999
Hamburger Abendblatt

Scientology is moving. No longer on the edge of downtown on 63 Steindamm, but right in the middle of it, on 9 Dom Street; that is where the controversial organization now has its new center. The new building will be opened at 12 noon on Saturday.

At around 3,000 square meters with five stories, the new building is bigger than the old one in which Scientology resided since 1989. The new president, Gisela Hackenjos, has her office up at the top. On ground level is the chapel, festival hall, book shop and working spaces. Those include ethics and auditing rooms, finance offices and a sauna.

It has been said that the Scientologists are especially proud of having pulled off the search for a new domicile without any kind of hindrances. Scientology Chief David Miscavige - still the successor of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard - was elated in having managed to get one over on the suppressive people by dropping crumbs down the wrong path.

The sale was managed allegedly through an attorney's office in Washington. The sale price was said to have been set at 20 million marks, which was paid for by the American Scientology center. The appearance of the Americans as buyers emphasizes, in the opinion of Reinhard Wagner, Hamburg Constitutional Security President, "the high importance which the Hamburg organization holds in the USA."

Although the Elb Scientologists once ran the most successful organization worldwide, they now find themselves in times of financial and personnel difficulties. Nevertheless, Hamburg is of importance as a Scientology stronghold. 1,000 of the total five to six thousand Scientologists nationwide live here or in the surrounding areas. Although there have recently been opposing sounds from Nordrhein-Westfalen, Wagner continues to believe that the surveillance of the Scientology organization decided upon by the Interior Ministers is still advisable.

Ursula Caberta, Director of the Work Group on Scientology in the Hamburg Interior Agency, has noticed "increased aggressiveness" by the organization in recent times. (scho)

Outrage at Scientology recruitment in the city

Hamburg, Germany
October 26, 1999
Die Welt

City's hands are tied by the demonstration law - CDU:
A provocation for the citizens of Hamburg

by Wiebke Spannuth and Deborah Knuer

All thoroughfare came to a stop downtown on Monday. Members of the Scientology sect stood everywhere and pressed leaflets and balloons into the hands of passersby. On two stages on Stein Street and on Alsteranleger, sect members had rolled out red carpets. However, they were not greeted ceremoniously by any means, but with police whistles and boo's.

The Scientology Commissioner of the Hamburg Senate, Ursula Caberta, warned about the "psycho[logical] concern's strategy." She said it had hidden its goals behind formulations which sounded unobjectionable. The "Marathon for Religious Freedom" in the central city was said to be an example of the strategy. Scientology was not a church, but a psycho-concern which exploited people. "The organization's goals and ideology are directed against our liberal democratic basic order."

On the fringes of the activity, 15 members of the Youth Union (JU) distributed leaflets entitled, "Stop Scientology!" It said that the goal of the Scientology Organization was the achievement of a totalitarian dictatorship and legal system. While the organization claimed, unjustifiably, entitlements to the protection by Basic Law for religious freedom, it simultaneously harassed and spied on its opponents with its own secret service. It was said to use conspiratorial methods to infiltrate important areas of state and society.

Sect marshals immediately tried to drive off the protesters. "Go someplace else, we've rented this spot," is what Jan Foertsch of the JU repeated of the short exchange of words.

Rental, however, has nothing to do with it. The fact is that the demonstration had been reported, in advance, to the police. "Scientology is not a prohibited organization, therefore the demonstration falls under freedom of assembly," said a police spokesman. The big tents and the stages also fell under "assembly." The central district office had only given a special usage permit to the sect to set up three tents so that actors could change clothes. However, it denied Scientology the usage of a large crane which Scientology wanted to use to film the crowd. The sect sued for that, in vain, in administrative court.

The CDU citizens faction is appalled. "We will still check to see if the permit had to have been granted on legal grounds," said faction chief Ole von Beust. "We perceive this event in the middle of the city as a provocations of the Hamburg citizenry." He said that Scientology exploited its members, shamelessly exploited people in need, and wanted to bring its victims into a state of dependency.

In the central district office, it is believed that the permit for three small tents had to have been granted. "Under principle of equal treatment, we had to allow Scientology to set up the tents," said spokeswoman Claudia Eggers. "We cannot refuse to issue the permit at our whim." In the meantime, the sect is proudly moving into its new spaces: the sect center will now be found not far from the assembly building at the corners of Dom Street and Neuer Fischmarkt.

Only information helps against sect disorder

Berlin, Germany
October 26, 1999
Die Welt

Commentary by Edgar S. Hasse

Americans who stridently sneer at Germany because Scientologists are alleged to be oppressed there should have been at the Hamburg Alster yesterday. There they would have experienced just the opposite. As never before, the controversial organization was out hunting for souls in the city - in a publicity event disguised as a demonstration.

On the one side, the legal state's tolerance of this event shows how seriously it takes the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of demonstration and freedom of religion. Anybody may profit from those freedoms, no matter how obscure their opinions or how doubtful their operating methods are. On the other side, it is clear how calmly the Hamburg community presence reacted to the "Alster Vergnuegen" for Scientologists. No trace of hysteria. That is because, in a state of Basic Law, anybody may be happy according to his own - or unhappy. To be sure, tolerance should not go so far as to avoid information and explanation of so-called "churches." Those who work with such subtle methods, as continue to be reported by former members from their own painful experiences, should not escape the public eye.

In maintaining that, the last few years in Hamburg have shown that it is absolutely worthwhile to proceed on the basis of the front of the legal state against Scientology, and to report on this organization in every scope. The "Eppendorfer Alliance," a group of political parties, church congregations, students and residents, even managed to get Scientology to give up its branch in Eppendorf. It remains appropriate for the Hanseatic community presence to continue distributing information on the psycho[logical] practices and the commercial goals of Scientology in the future - be it in schools or at demonstrations. That is because it is only those who are sufficiently informed who will not get bogged down with the Scientologists.

In Hamburg, Scientology is advertising for tolerance of itself - and storms their critics' information booths

Hamburg, Germany
October 26, 1999
taz Hamburg Nr. 5974

by Eberhard Spohd

Crusade of the Desolate

Scientology burst vehemently back into the public's eye yesterday in Hamburg. Amidst a big name fanfare, the organization, which is under surveillance by the Hamburg Constitutional Security Agency, celebrated the end of its "European Marathon for Human Rights" on Alsteranleger. A "Torch of Freedom" was carried over 4,500 kilometers and through seven countries from Athens to Hamburg. About 1,500 adherents wanted to "make the public more aware of the United Nations General Declaration of Human Rights, and to go on stage for freedom of religion."

That is not surprising, but the controversial organization views itself as a church and feels discriminated against in Germany. "It is no accident that Scientology chose Hamburg as the destination city of its marathon," stated Manfred Murck, current director of the State Office for Constitutional Security, "since their model European center is here."

Murck has deduced that there are about 1,000 members in the Hanseatic City [of Hamburg], and that this number has remained constant for years. Scientology continues to finance itself with the fees from its courses and with the sale of booklets or books. One leg of support, however, has broken off, "The members who are most able to pay came, for a long time, from the construction and real estate businesses." Because of their crises, there were economic problems. Murck described yesterday's demonstration not only as a "protest, but also as a recruitment effort."

Ursula Caberta agreed with that. The Director [Caberta] of the Work Group on Scientology of the Interior agency accused the organization of disguising their true motives: "Goals unobjectionable to the normal citizen were hidden behind formulations at their event." In reality, she said, something quite different was at stake than was was assumed: "The Scientologists wanted to advertise for themselves."

Caberta and her work group have been doing information work on Scientology in Hamburg for seven years. Members of the organization responded at the booth which the work group had erected yesterday. They tore information leaflets from the book table, and one even spit at somebody who was distributing the leaflets. "Anyone who behaves like that," commented Caberta, "has to be nervous." The desolate condition of the organization in Hamburg is said to have been managed through the work of her office.

She was contradicted by the President of Scientology Hamburg, Gisela Hackenjos. Yesterday, she revealed that the organization was moving into a new center in the city. But she no more wanted to give any information about the new building's owner than she did about the amount of the rent for the more than 3,000 square meters: "We are not talking about money. Either we have it or we don't. Mostly we have it."

Building on Dom Street becomes "new home in the heart of Hamburg" -
Opening end of November

Scientology sect moves toward assembly building

Hamburg, Germany
October 26, 1999
Hamburger MORGENPOST

Anybody who had hoped that the Scientologists would withdraw from Hamburg is bound to be disappointed: the sect is moving into a new building on the corner of Dom Street and Alter Fischmarkt. The opening is planned for the 27th of November. The location, only 100 meters from the Hamburg assembly building, has the effect of a provocation - "the new home for the Scientologists will be in the heart of Hamburg," announced its president, Gisela Hackenjos.

Hamburg sect commissioner Ursula Caberta's warning that the Scientologists were on the look-out for a new building apparently went unheeded. The five-story building has over 3,000 square meters and has been in use by an insurance company. "The owner of the building is a real estate company who quite openly does not discriminate against applicants on religious grounds," said a press release from the psycho-sect.

Yesterday the Scientologists had six bagpipe players and a red carpet rolled out in front of its new headquarters - pompous reception for a delegation from the "Church of Scientology" in Los Angeles - along with five torch bearers who arrived as part of a "Marathon for Human Rights" in Hamburg.

Between 300 and 400 sympathizers carried posters calling for religious freedom. At one event on Alsteranleger, U.S. film actress Anne Archer put on a protest against the "religious discrimination in Germany."

The adherents of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard have to move out of their old headquarters at 63 Steindamm. The owner wants to tear down the condemned building and have a 16 story office building erected in its place. It was alleged that the sect was evicted because of outstanding rent. Hackenjos, however, disputes that. She said they, themselves, gave notice because of water damage and defective heating.

The amount of space in the new building surpasses that of the old by far, said a leaflet. Film presentations will be offered and a library established on ground level. There are 30 rooms planned just for "spiritual counseling" - "auditing" is viewed by critics as an especially underhanded form of brainwashing.

On the fringes of the Scientology exhibitions yesterday, the Youth Union was busy doing information work: it said the sect was demonstrating under cover of human rights. In reality, it was said that Scientology was a commercial undertaking which aimed to make a profit.

Dierk Rohwedder

Jogging for Scientology

Hamburg, Germany
October 22, 1999
Hamburger Morgenpost

Anybody who wants to watch Scientologists in sports will have the opportunity this coming Monday. Participants of a "4,500 Kilometer Marathon for Human Rights," organized by the sect, are supposed to arrive about noon at Gerhart Hauptmann Square. Its start was in Athens. The joggers are promoting the end of "discrimination against religious minorities." According to a statement by the sect six runners are taking turns running the whole way.

1500 Scientologists protest against the
World Psychiatric Congress

Hamburg, Germany
August 9, 1999
taz

Not Crazy about Shock

For years psychiatry has been one of Scientology's favorite themes; under the pretext of defending human rights, they use it to lure in new members. For Scientology founder Ron L. Hubbard, the world was under the influence of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychoanalysts. It was shown last Saturday that this theme can be used to mobilize people. On that day, 1,500 adherents of the "Commission for Violations of Psychiatry against Human Rights," which was founded by Scientologists, demonstrated in Hamburg against the World Psychiatric Congress, which was taking place at the time in the CCH [Hamburg Convention Center].

"Strap them in and fry their brains, woe to him who dares complain," they chanted and "We are not crazy about electroshock." Using the U.S. model, the demonstrators carried placards or wore t-shirts with the slogan "Psychiatry Kills." The procession was led by a coach with coffins. A giant needle was meant to bring attention to the use of psycho-pharmaceuticals. Speakers strongly denounced countless people being held daily against their will in psychiatric institutions and being sedated with pharmaceuticals. Even children were alleged to be pumped full of medication.

They did not mention, however, that Scientologists themselves are masters of psychotherapy and operate with perfidious methods and control-oriented consciousness manipulation up to the point of brainwashing.

mag

Against the stigmatization of the psychically ill

Hamburg, Germany
August 6, 1999
Sueddeutsche Zeitung

The World Psychiatric Association met for the first time in Germany -
Presentation in Hamburg recalls Nazi Euthanasia

Whoever is afraid of large crowds should avoid the area around the Hamburg Congress Center for the next few days. That is where 10,000 doctors, therapists, scientists and also several of their patients will be arriving on Friday for the XI World Congress for Psychiatry. The mega-meeting is organized every three years by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), to which a total of 110 national associations belong.

It is the first time the international psychiatric elite have met in Germany. For Wolfgang Gaebel, the Director of the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Duesseldorf, who made preparations for the Congress, this a "a clear signal that despite the systematic abuse of psychiatry during the National Socialistic era, Germany has been internationally accepted."

However, the horrors of the past were not put out of sight in Hamburg. In memory of the "victims of the Nazi Euthanasia program" the German Psychiatric Association arranged a presentation in audimax at the Hamburg University with photographs, documents and works of art. The central point of the 3,000 exhibitions and more than 300 workshops, however, consisted of actual problems. "Psychic illnesses are increasing and getting worse," said the President of the WPA, Norman Sartorius. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, worldwide, 800 million people suffer from depression, schizophrenia or other psychic illnesses. The Congress in Hamburg will address items which include "psychic illness as a result of war, torture and forced expulsion," "new methods of treatment for drug addiction," and the "development of mass fear in society." The central point will be an international campaign by the WPA against "the stigmatization and discrimination of the psychically ill."

A modest counter event to the huge congress was arranged by the "Bundesverband Psychiatrie-Erfahrener (BPE)" together with the Israeli Association against Psychiatric Abuse (IAAPA) in the academic institute of the university. These organizations criticized the world congress as a "purely expert event," which degraded the sick to "objects." Besides that they regarded the decision to meet in Germany for the first time as "fatal." It was said that this was an attempt "to cleanse German psychiatry from systematic mass murder of people who were alleged to be mentally ill." Also, a "Commission for Violations of Psychiatry against Human Rights" (KVPM) called for a demonstration in Hamburg over the weekend. The Hamburg Interior agency warned, however, "They are not backed up by any human rights movement, but by the Scientology Organization."

Cornelia Bolesch

Scientology Mobilizes

Hamburg, Germany
August 6, 1999
Hamburger Morgenpost

Disturbance expected at World Psychiatry Congress in Hamburg

The "Work Group on Scientology" of the Hamburg Interior Agency has warned of disturbances at the World Psychiatry Congress by sect members. The organization wants to raise sentiment against the event with a leafletting operation, explained the Scientology Commissioner, Ursula Caberta, yesterday as the Congress was opening.

The organizer of the counter-demonstration was the so-called "Commission for Violations of Psychiatry against Human Rights" - an association founded by Scientology members, according to Caberta.

In its own statement, Scientology said the distribution of leaflets was to support the protest of "various human rights associations" against the World Congress.

300,000 copies of a special edition of Scientology's "Freiheit" magazine were to be distributed among the people, said the Hamburg speaker of the psycho-sect, Frank Busch. He said the magazine reported in detail about "psychiatric brutality and human rights violations."

Insiders judge the activity by the sect as an attempt to recruit new members. Apparently Scientology is strongly on the defensive financially and personnel-wise. The group's sales are said to be the lowest in years. In Hamburg, former Scientology fortress, the number of members has plummeted down to about one thousand.

dpa

Scientology wants new "customers"

Hamburg, Germany
April 14, 1999
From: "Hamburger MORGENPOST Online"

Propaganda in the city: the controversial Scientology organization will try to gain new customers with an exhibition in the "Alte Wache" Hotel in St. Georg. Starting tomorrow, for six days, display boards will be set up to advertise the ideology of the business-minded psycho-sect.

Other actions to concurrently advertise for the association plagued by dwindling membership include a double-decker billboard bus. The organization, which has been under observation by Constitutional Security for some time, apparently managed a rental agreement for the hotel's spaces with the assistance of an agent.

Hotel chief Hans-Juergen Boesch stated, "That is a reservation just like any other. I don't pass judgment over the participants. We do not identify with the goals of our guests." The Scientology show will be an isolated incident: "We do not intend on having other Scientology events."

bel

Hamburg, Germany
September 14, 2000
alt.religion.scientology

      From: kontakt at menschenrechtsbuero.de
Newsgroups: de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology, 
            alt.religion.scientology
   Subject: FWD:Korruptionsskandal in Hamburg
      Date: 14 Sep 2000 
Message-ID: <39C09604.109A70D6@menschenrechtsbuero.de>

From a special edition of "Freiheit" available at
www.menschenrechtsbuero.de/freiheit.htm

Scientology Church files criminal complaints against Ursula Caberta and Bob Minton

for Soliciting and Accepting Favors*, Bribery and Money-Laundering

*[Vorteilsnahme/Vorteilsgewaehrung]

Hamburg. This morning the Scientology Church filed criminal complaints at the Hamburg State Attorney's Office against Ursula Caberta for suspicion of taking favors, accepting a bribe and money-laundering, as well as Robert Minton for suspicion of soliciting favors and bribery.

In the past weeks, Ursula Caberta, the Director of the Work Group on Scientology, a tenant of the Hamburg Interior Agency, has repeatedly complained in public that, on the occasion of her visit to Florida, she had bad experiences with U.S. Justice and "had lost her belief in the constitutionality in the USA." She said the German Consul in Miami stated that he could no longer guarantee her safety and that she had left the country prematurely. As Caberta put it, it was inconceivable how one treated tourists in the USA.

That was not even half of the truth. Caberta had traveled to the USA to demonstrate, with a sign in her hand, before the Scientology Center in Clearwater, Florida, and to speak as the star guest of a press conference staged by Minton. A U.S. Civil Court judge ordered that she be deposed in the scope of a civil trial. Although Caberta wanted to use all means available to prevent the hearing and persistently avoided the questions, she finally had to meekly admit: Yes, I have accepted private money from Bob Minton, he gave be a loan.

Caberta's deposition was broken off after a good five hours and was supposed to have continued the following Friday. Caberta preferred to leave the USA prematurely, thereby escaping further testimony through flight. This left speculation as to what else she might have had to hide.

The connection between Caberta and Minton is not at all of a private nature. To almost all questions about details of this connection, Caberta refused to answer with the reason that it had to do with official matters and that she was not in possession of a permit to make a statement.

In view of the close official connection between Caberta and Minton, the Scientology Church sees a connection between money being used and official business. Therefore, criminal complaints were placed against Caberta for suspicion of accepting favors/a bribe, and against Minton for suspicion of offering favors and bribery. Because Minton did not obtain his fortune in an honorable fashion, further complaints were placed against Caberta for suspicion of frivolous money-laundering.

The process of the U.S. Justice agencies against Caberta presumably holds water. Basically Caberta was only upset that politicians and government office-holders in the USA are not treated with kid gloves like they are here at home. It would be highly desirable for the German court to diligently apply the appropriate laws without regard for the person when it comes to discovering corruption and misuse of office in our state presence. Therefore Caberta was entirely correct when she asserted, "In Germany this would not have been possible."

For more information:
Sabine Weber/Georg Stoffel, [telephone number given, see www.menschenrechtsbuero.de/freiheit.htm]

[The real world story by the Nigerian Senate on the 1988-1993 buy-back varies widely from how Scientology tells things in the following two OPEN LETTERS from Scientology.]

Scientology Church Hamburg, Inc.

[contact info]

5.27.2000

Agency of the Interior
Mr. Interior Senator Wrocklage

OPEN LETTER 

SUBJECT: EMPLOYEE OF THE HAMBURG INTERIOR AGENCY PAYS 
                  COURT TO INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL CRIMINAL 
                  AND NOW ALSO WANTS TO DISTINGUISH HIM

Dear Mr. Interior Senator Wrocklage,

As you are surely aware, the employee of the Hamburg Interior Agency Mrs. Ursula Caberta officially invited the American "investment banker" Robert Minton to a press conference in the name of the city, and, indeed, it was on April 6, 2000 in the large conference hall (room 105) of the Hamburg Interior Agency. The invitation was issued on April 3, 2000 officially from the press and information center of the Agency for the Interior (ATTACHMENT 1, Invitation of the Press and Information Center of the Interior Agency).

It was obvious that Mr. Minton was proudly presented by Mrs. Caberta to the journalists present as a "multi-millionaire" and as an "intrepid combatant against Scientology" and that she paid court to him. It can also be assumed that Mrs. Caberta has quite deliberately withheld from you as the presiding Interior Senator, your press center and also the journalists present at the press conference the background and the real "merits" of Mr. Minton. Yet this unbelievable scandal has not yet nearly reached its high point: above that, Mrs. Caberta would like to grant Mr. Minton on June 3, 2000 in Leipzig in her own convened ceremony an "alternative Charlemagne Award" for his "merits for human rights." In the associated internet announcement, Mrs. Caberta appeared once more as the official representative of the free Hanseatic City of Hamburg. This farce then took on a completely significance, since on June 2nd in Aachen the "International Charlemagne Award, Aachen," renowned for 50 years, is to be awarded to the American President Bill Clinton. As you can see from the text for the announced "alternative award," the foundation of cynicism cannot be outdone and is an incredible insult to the foreign head of state. Minton's merits were said to make him a "more worthy award winner" than President Clinton (ATTACHMENT 2, Internet text "Alternativer Karlspreis 2000")

For a better life in a difficult world
Scientology is an applied religious philosophy

page 2

As a matter of fact, Mr. Minton can produce "merits," but which clearly identify him only as "white-collar criminal," an international commercial criminal and money-launderer, who has robbed needy people who are living in poverty in one of the poorest countries in the world of an astronomical amount of millions.

In the enclosed summary you will find presented in great detail with what inconceivable criminal energy Minton, whom Mrs. Caberta masked in Hamburg as a harmless, honest man, acted. (ATTACHMENT 3 - Summary)

In complicity with ex-military dictators and notorious human rights violators in Nigeria he defrauded dozens of banks in Europe and in the USA with illegal money-laundering deals which had been covertly developed through cover companies and strawmen. But more than anything else, he defrauded the people suffering from horrible need in Nigeria exclusively to satisfy only his craving for profit. Full of cynicism and disregard for human dignity, Minton himself asserted that he had made "only" several tens of millions dollars of profit by doing this. Doubt of his assertion is appropriate, since over 12 billion marks disappeared in the fraudulent deals into murky channels.

For weeks reports have been regularly appearing on this in the English and African media which have been bringing more new details about Minton's fraudulent business to the light of day (ATTACHMENT 4 - list of sources). We will be happy to put any of the sources listed at your disposal.

For Mr. Minton would have been at his visit to Hamburg on April 6 the Interior Agency already the right starting point, to be sure for the forwarded to the subordinate state criminal investigative office. The Interior Agency would have been the right place for Mr. Minton's visit to Hamburg on April 6, but he should have been routed down to the subordinate state criminal investigation office. In character, the ARD broadcast on its April 5th programming an impressive documentary entitled "The Nigeria Connection." "Rosy times for the Nigeria Connection" were revealed in that program. "Not just in Holland. Because since then the only investigative group in Hamburg has been dissolved." (ATTACHMENT - excerpt from the ARD transcript)

In the meantime, investigations are being initiated in the Nigerian Senate and Minton's bank accounts in Austria, Switzerland and England have been officially confiscated, and just the day before yesterday and yesterday, the American Congress has also gotten involved in this dark chapter with a hearing on Nigeria. Therefore the summary and the list of sources on this scandal has to be expanded almost daily.

The by any regards fanatic activism of your employee, Mrs. Caberta, has now reached a point where we can only implore you to take the following steps in order to be able to avoid - possibly international - damages to the reputation of your agency and to the Hanseatic City of Hamburg:

1. Dismiss Mrs. Caberta with no notice. She has not informed you or the public about Mr. Minton's international fraudulent business, and honored him in the Interior Agency

page 3

The Interior Agency would be better off tracking down and locking up criminals instead of honoring them as models with a human rights award.

2. Decisively distance yourself, as part of the Interior Agency, from the criminal action of Mr. Minton and give back to the state criminal investigative office the means to investigate such wrongdoers and put them under arrest. Have millions of this type of fraud money been deposited in Germany? Do everything possible in your area of responsibility so that Minton will be forced to give back his illegally acquired fraudulent millions to the Nigerian people, so that the money can be used for social welfare institutions within the country.

We ask for your answer by this coming Tuesday, the 30th of May.

Cordially,

/signature/
Frank Busch

Attachments:

ATTACHMENT 1 - Invitation of the Press and Information Center of the Interior Agency
ATTACHMENT 2 - Internet text "Alternativer Karlspreis 2000"
ATTACHMENT 3 - Summary
ATTACHMENT 4 - list of sources
ATTACHMENT 5 - excerpt from the ARD transcript

[ATTACHMENT 3]

Summary

As of May 26, 2000

"INVESTMENT BANKER ROBERT MINTON AND THE NIGERIA CONNECTION

In spite of rich deposits of oil, Nigeria is among the poorest of countries in general - not only in Africa, but worldwide. Unimaginable luxury for a few military dictators and poverty for the over 100 million people characterized the land on the Gulf of Guinea until the recent past. Nigeria holds 12th place on the world list of countries supplying oil, but with an average monthly salary of 30 marks, the Nigerian are in 13th place of the world list of the poorest countries. (source: Stern, 18.04.1996).

Just until recently violence, murder, terror and corruption ruled the land. Even international protests in 1995 could not prevent the military dictator of the time, Sani Abacha, from having Ken Saro-Wiwa, civil rights activist and recipient of the alternative Nobel Prize, executed in 1995. His crime: he had protested against the destruction of the Nigerian Delta by the ruthless demolition of oil camps. (source: Stern, 09.11.1995).

Abacha was said to have done away with several billion marks and cached the money away in foreign bank accounts. (source: Stern, 01.01.1996)

Dubious Abacha bank accounts holding millions, for example with the Swiss Credit Suisse bank institution and bank account closings made headlines in April 2000. (sources: Sonntagszeitung, 02.04.2000, SonntagsBlick, 16.04.2000 and New York Times, 05.04.2000). The same with Abacha billions at a Luxemburg daughter company of the Warburg Bank, which is resident in Hamburg (sources: Bild, 18.05.2000 and Hamburger Morgenpost, 20.05.2000)

In the same way, Nigeria acquired a great reputation worldwide as a stronghold of international business fraud, which with the country is still suffering today. Total estimated losses according to the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation in 1995: 90 million marks (source: Stern, 09.11.1995).

Also the ARD was recently deeply involved with this problem in a documentary "Seeking ... The Nigeria Connection," and it also reported on the victims of fraud from Germany whose existence had been destroyed by criminal acts directed from Nigeria (source: ARD, 05.04.2000).

But there are serious efforts by people from Nigeria to restore the country's reputation and oppose these criminal deals and the plundering of Nigeria. One of them is ex-soccer star John Fashanu (37) who lives in Nigeria and in England. For three years he had been investigating fraudulent business in the environment of former military despots in Nigeria and he has summarized the results in a report which has been causing a stir last month in the English and African media. (sources: AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL, 31. March 2000, THE SUNDAY TIMES, 2. April 2000, AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 3. April 2000, NEW NATION, 10. April 2000, SUNDAY TRIBUNE, 16. April 2000, THE NEWS, 17. April 2000, PUNCH, 19. April 2000, AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 28. April 2000, AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 3. May 2000, AGENCE FRANCE PRESS 14. May 2000 und AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 17. May 2000)

A new and completely essential conclusion of the investigation:

As to the person of "investment banker" Robert Minton, who operates from Boston, it is now possible for the first time to prove how the Nigerian people, a large number of credit banks of the country and even the former military despots themselves were massively bilked out of astronomical sums by criminal international fraudulent deals. Over 12 billion marks disappeared through over 200 foreign bank accounts and Minton was the one pulling the strings, who literally made a fortune from the poverty and hunger of the people in Nigeria.

How did the criminal deals take place?

Flash back to 1988 - 1993 in Nigeria:

Abacha's predecessor, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida ruled the country in these years. Today he is looked upon as the richest, living ex-dictator in the world. The amount of his fortune in 1997 was put at 450 billion naira (the state currency of Nigeria), converted, about 10 billion marks. Until the middle of 1993, Babangida was a military despot in Nigeria. The country had a windfall of cash by delivering crude oil in the Gulf War. But of the 12.4 billion dollars realized, none of it appeared in the state budget nor did the indigent populace see a trace of it. The state budget, for example, only recorded high deficits for 1990 and 1991. These procedures are not new. As early as 1995, the German media was also reporting on the money dealings from Nigeria's oil industry: a part of the profits went to bank accounts for "special purposes." It can be seen from the calculations of the Nigerian National bank that, for example, that 18.3 million dollars were "charged" for the presidential television and videorecorder. Altogether 6.1 billion dollars disappeared. (source: Stern, 23.11.1995)

But that was not even the object of Fashanu's investigations: the since deceased president of the national bank of Nigeria, Abdulkadir Ahmed, contrived international money-laundering transactions and organized a gigantic international fraud with the unscrupulous American businessman, Robert Minton. Through a network of cover companies which the "investment banker" had constructed, dozens of banks were defrauded of billions through covert buy-backs of Nigerian foreign debt. Minton availed himself of several accomplices and procured illegal insider knowledge for profit maximization in his criminal deals. He hoarded up astronomical sums of millions which were rightly due to the people in Nigeria. It involved a fraud in the amount of at least 12 billion marks which was disguised and diverted through more than 200 different bank accounts.

The monies for the deals - which at first were channeled through the Minton company with the characteristic name of "Growth Management Limited (GML)" London - were received by Minton through the national bank of Nigeria or put at the disposal of the national oil company, Nigerian National Petrolium [sic] Cooperation [sic]. Then they were channelled to the London branch of the Austrian state bank. But since, too much was going on in London for the Nigerian's taste and, yes, the credit bank was not supposed to guess which country was behind the debt buy-back deal, cover companies with fanciful names in Panama and America were founded in cooperation with Minton:

The "Greenland Holdings Incorporated" in Panama and "Shamrock Financials" und "Triolet" in the USA. Other banks were also used for the covert money-laundering of the dirty ["schwarz"] money from Nigeria to Minton. Among those named were the Federal Reserve Bank (New York), the Morgan Guaranty (New York) and the Bank of International Settlement (Basel).

Then the money was forwarded through the "Greenland Holdings Incorporated" in Panama to Swiss and Austrian bank accounts, among others, in order to continue disguising the real origin.

Minton then used his various cover companies or employed middle men for the illegal deals. First it was made clear to the credit banks that in view of the uncertain political situation and political future in Nigeria it would naturally be better for them to write off their debts at a decreased amount, and that way they would at least see a portion of their investment returned, instead of no money at all.

In an article entitled "Barclays, the big loser," an English magazine reported in detail in April how such a criminal deal of Minton's occurred in 1991 with the English Barclays Bank. The bank bore 300 million dollars of the Nigerian debt. Minton bought it up for 80 million dollars - and in doing so also turned his Nigerian financial backers into defrauded fraud men. Namely, he sold them the Nigerian debt write-off at Barclays - according to Fashanu's findings - at double the price (source: PUNCH, 19. April 2000). Minton, who appeared as an innocent, harmless man, made about 160 million marks profit on this deal alone.

Minton approached other deals more forcefully. He paid banks 10 cents on the dollar for Nigerian debt write-offs and sold them back to the unsuspecting Nigerians for 45 centers.

But Minton was greedy and was not at all satisfied with that. He perfected his criminal business with illegally acquired insider knowledge so that this was fully without risk for him and he could cram into his pockets yet more millions which were rightfully due to the people in Nigeria. He worked with an old accomplice with whom he had worked out similar deals in the 1980s in Turkey. This man maintained a close relationship to the Chase Mannhatten [sic] Bank, which was officially commissioned to record all the details of Nigeria's debt write-offs. That is where all the valuable, confidential insider information was available. Equipped with this insider knowledge, Minton had his acquaintances function as strawmen with the "Turan-Corp" company in order to pull off 43 more covert buy-backs of Nigerian debt write-offs from unsuspecting creditor banks. It has not yet been determined how many millions or billions of dollars Minton robbed from Nigeria's population. In the meantime - as a result of Fashanu's investigations - Minton's bank accounts in Austria, Switzerland and in London have been frozen (source: AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 28. April 2000)

Today Minton mimes an honest man whose background is clean as a whistle. In doing so he has gotten more and more involved in an entanglement of cynicism and lies to justify his scandalous business.

There is absolutely no doubt that - quite apart from the moral aspect of his complicity with a military dictator at the expense of the people in one of the poorest countries of the world - his deals were quite obviously illegal and criminal:

The debt buy-backs were carried out covertly, yet according to international agreements, the despots in Nigeria at the time were obligated to treat all creditor banks the same. Minton used insider knowledge and deliberately deceived the creditor banks. Above that he made himself a principal to unknowing victims of fraud.

Today Minton sanctimoniously maintains the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund has "silently agreed" to the deals. In the meantime there is factual evidence whereby Minton conspired with other people from financial circles and banks in order to pull off his financial manipulations (source: AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 3. May 2000).

The peak of Minton's cynicism and disregard for human dignity, for which he did not use one dollar of his own money in his criminal deals: he said he had "only made several tens of millions of dollars profit, not hundreds of millions or even billions (source: AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL, March 31, 2000). How many kindergartens, hospitals or other desperately needed welfare establishments could have been built with this money for the impoverished populace is not a question which is easily answered.

In the meantime the Nigerian Senate has formed an international initiative to investigate the giant fraud and get back the money stolen from the Nigerian people (source: AGENCE FRANCE PRESS, 14. May 2000 und AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 17. May 2000).

A hearing on Nigeria took place on May 25 in the American Congress. During that hearing, the President of the Nigerian Democratic Movement was heard as an expert witness. He present the American State Department and the tax authorities with extensive documentation of the criminal money-laundering activities in which Robert Minton played a key role between 1988 and 1993 (source: AMERICAN CONGRESS, May 25, 2000, testimony page 3)

SOURCE MATERIAL USED:

ON NIGERIA

  1. Stern, 18.04.1996
  2. Stern, 09.11.1995
  3. Stern, 01.01.1996
  4. Sonntagszeitung, 02.04.2000
  5. SonntagsBlick, 16.04.2000
  6. New York Times, 05.04.2000
  7. Bild, 18.05.2000
  8. Hamburger Morgenpost, 20.05.2000
  9. ARD, 05.04.2000
  10. Stern, 23.11.1995

ON ROBERT MINTON

  1. AFRICA CONFIDENTIAL, 31. März 2000
  2. THE SUNDAY TIMES, 2. April 2000
  3. AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 3. April 2000
  4. NEW NATION, 10. April 2000
  5. SUNDAY TRIBUNE, 16. April 2000
  6. THE NEWS, 17. April 2000
  7. PUNCH, 19. April 2000
  8. AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 28. April 2000
  9. AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 3. Mai 2000
  10. AGENCE FRANCE PRESS, 14. Mai 2000
  11. AFRICA NEWS SERVICE, 17. Mai 2000
  12. AMERIKANISCHER KONGRESS, ANHÖRUNG ZU NIGERIA, Aussage Seite 3, 25. Mai 2000

Scientology Church

Germany, Inc.

Beichstrasse 12, Munich, [contact info]

Evangelical State Church
in Berlin-Brandenburg
Mr. State Bishop
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Huber
[address]

Munich
May 29, 2000

OPEN LETTER

Representative of the Evangelical State Church in Berlin-Brandenburg wants to distinguish international commercial criminal

Dear Mr. State Bishop Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Huber,

Your church has done much in many ways to be of service to common understanding and through assistance projects to the Third World.

Yet now an unbelievable scandal is looming which will inflict incalculable damage to the credibility of your efforts if it is not handled in a timely manner.

At the center point of this scandal is your employee, Mr. Thomas Gandow, sect commissioner, as an official representative of the Evangelical State Church in Berlin-Brandenburg:

Mr. Gandow would like to give an "alternative Charlemagne Award" to the American "investment banker," Mr. Robert Minton, on June 3, 2000 in Leipzig in a ceremony convened for that reason. He distributed a press release to the public on May 26, 2000 with the help of the "Evangelical press service" in Berlin to that effect, which resulted in an insignificant article in the Berlin daily newspaper "taz" (ATTACHMENT 1 - tax of June 27, 2000). It can be assumed from that that you and the Evangelical Press Service have not been informed as to the true background on Mr. Minton.

In an internet announcement on the "Alternative Charlemagne Award," Mr. Gandow appeared as an official church representative and gave his office "Heimat 27" as a contact address. The "distinction" takes on an entirely different significance because the "International Charlemagne Award, Aachen," renowned for 50 years, is being awarded to President Bill Clinton on June 2nd in Aachen.

For a better life in a difficult world

page 2

As you can see from the text for the announced "alternative award," the foundation of cynicism cannot be outdone and is an incredible insult to the foreign head of state by an representative of your state church. Minton's merits were said to make him a "more worthy award winner" than President Clinton.

In the foundation for the award, it said under the heading "Model?":

"Even the opinions in Aachen vary widely as to whether Bill Clinton is generally an appropriate award winner. We have the opinion that there are other people who are better suited than Bill Clinton to be honored for their efforts to promote freedom of opinion and a democratic style of life. That is because President Clinton has ... not made such a model out of himself.

Then it is presented that Robert Minton would have been more worthy candidate to receive the International Charlemagne Award than U.S. President Bill Clinton, because he had, "through his activities, clearly promoted the matters of Democracy, freedom of opinion and the freedom of conscience. The person which is worthy of this award, is Bob Minton." (ATTACHMENT 2, Internet text "Alternativer Karlspreis 2000")

As a matter of fact, Mr. Minton can produce "merits," but which identify him more as a "white-collar criminal," an international commercial criminal and money-launderer, who has robbed needy people who are living in poverty in one of the poorest countries in the world of an astronomical amount of millions.

In the enclosed summary you will find presented in great detail with what inconceivable criminal energy Minton, whom is masked as an honest man presented as a "human rights activist" and "model," acted. (ATTACHMENT 3 - Summary)

In complicity with ex-military dictators and notorious human rights violators in Nigeria he defrauded dozens of banks in Europe and in the USA with illegal money-laundering deals which had been covertly developed through cover companies and strawmen. But more than anything else, he defrauded the people suffering from horrible need in Nigeria exclusively to satisfy only his craving for profit. Full of cynicism and disregard for human dignity, Minton himself asserted that he had made "only" several tens of millions dollars of profit by doing this. Doubt of his assertion is appropriate, since over 12 billion marks disappeared in the fraudulent deals into murky channels.

For weeks reports have been regularly appearing on this in the English and African media which have been bringing more new details about Minton's fraudulent business to the light of day (ATTACHMENT 4 - list of sources). We will be happy to put any of the sources listed at your disposal.

For Mr. Minton, a special investigative unit with the criminal investigative police who are engaged with solving international crime, would have been the right place for him to start in Germany. In the meantime, investigations are being initiated in the Nigerian Senate and Minton's bank accounts in Austria, Switzerland and England have been officially confiscated, and as recently as June 26, 2000 the American Congress has also gotten involved in this dark chapter with a hearing on Nigeria.

page 3

Therefore the summary and the list of sources on this scandal has to be expanded almost daily.

The fanatic activism of your employee, Mr. Gandow, has now reached a point where we can only implore you to take the following steps in order to be able to avoid - possibly international - damages to the reputation of your church and and your involvement to help the Third World:

1. Dismiss Mr. Gandow with no notice. He has not informed you or the public about Mr. Minton's international fraudulent business, has paid court to him, and now wants to distinguish him by power of his office.

2. Decisively distance the Evangelical State Church in Berlin-Brandenburg from the criminal action of Mr. Minton and ensure that no representative of your church takes part in distinguishing a man who has enriched himself from the want and poverty of the Third World in the most criminal way and has harmed the poorest people of the world.

Since the award is supposed to take place as early as June 3, we ask for your answer tomorrow.

Cordially,

Sabine Weber
Vice President
of the Church of Scientology Germany, Inc.

Senate's printed matter at Scientology

Classified agency document falls into the hands of the sect - IA investigating

Hamburg, Germany
January 28, 2000
Die Welt

A printed document classified as "secret" which primarily dealt with evaluation of the Scientology sect is at the center of an investigation by Internal Affairs ["Dienststelle Interne Ermittlung" (DIE)]. The approximately one and a half year old document has now fallen into the hands of the sect. It was allegedly sent anonymously to Scientology. Internal Affairs took the case a week ago. The police are supposed to let the authorities know who made the document available to the sect.

"Currently an attempt is being made to delineate who received the document," said Christoph Holstein, spokesman for the Interior Agency. Copies had been distributed to agency staff at the Senate Chancellory, the Agency for Schools, Youth and Career Development, the Work Group on Scientology directed by Ursula Caberta and in Schleswig-Holstein.

The main source of puzzlement is that the document is an older, superceded version. "It is an exact copy of one of the original versions which was modified and redone many times. If there were actually a spy in the Interior Agency, he would have gotten the most recent document on the topic," said an unnamed source from investigative circles. The entire case is filled with mystery. "Another important point is the intention of the doer. Perhaps there was something else behind it entirely," said an official.

IA is presently still at the very start of its investigations. Besides the distribution list, it is reviewing whether this is a matter of theft of documents or of betrayal of agency secrets, which would be the forwarding on of information. Actual results are not expected quickly. It figures to be a long-term investigation. Scientology made for headlines in early December when it was revealed that a component of Windows 2000, a new computer operating system from Microsoft, was developed by a known Scientologist. The defragmentation program, called "Diskeeper," could link into the data flow of Hamburg government agencies without being detected. On Thursday Renate Mitterhuber, spokeswoman of the Hamburg Revenue office, stated that this system would not be installed. "We have taken technical precautions to keep it from being used," said the spokeswoman. zv/DW

Scientology Spy in the Interior Agency?

Confidential document to Senator Wrocklage falls into the hands of the sect

Hamburg, Germany
January 27, 2000
Hamburger Abendblatt

There is a nagging suspicion that in the Hamburg Interior Agency, of all places, there is a Scientologist, or at least a sympathizer of the controversial organization.

The fact is: the sect had access to a paper classified as "secret"; it was part of a proposed Senate document for Interior Senator Hartmuth Wrocklage and State Advisor Wolfgang Prill.

The 20 page document did not only contain assessments on Scientology, but also had description of other "sects, psycho-groups and destructive cults," as it said. The purpose of the document was apparently to extend the mission of the Work Group on Scientology, directed by Ursula Caberta, to other groups, as well as to review possible cooperation with Schleswig-Holstein in the area.

When asked how a "secret" agency document could have gotten into her hands, Hamburg's Scientology President Gisela Hackenjos stated that the papers were sent to her anonymously by mail. By admitting to that she has demonstrated how far the long arm of Scientology had reached into the apparatus of government. Investigating, discrediting and shaking up opponents are all part of the way Scientology does business. "Perhaps someone wanted to bring the Work Group on Scientology's expansion to our attention," said Hackenjos. She cannot imagine that a kindred spirit is working in the agency. Right down to the police ("they are always very nice") people "are not at all well-disposed to us," she said.

The event is no cause for action by Reinhard Wagner, President of Hamburg Constitutional Security. The Scientology Organization has, indeed, been under surveillance since a decision by the state interior ministers since mid-1997. However it is not his mission to review whether an Interior Agency staff member possibly forwarded on classified documents, said Wagner.

Christoph Holstein, spokesman for the Interior Agency, said that Internal Affairs ["Dienststelle Interne Ermittlungen" (DIE)] is investigating the matter. It has been classified initial suspicion of betrayal of agency secrets. In any case disciplinary measures will result. This was said to be the first time that information from the Interior Agency has shown up in the Scientology Organization.

That is not completely accurate. For instance, in connection with virulent attacks on Caberta in their propaganda magazine, "Freiheit," in the early '90s, Scientology cited a document from the LKA [German equivalent of FBI] which presented sect danger less dramatically. An internal investigation also followed that, but without results.

However this solves the problem the Hamburg State Office for Information Technology had with the new Windows 2000 computer operating system. As reported, there were fears that the the "Diskeeper" defragmentation program, which is part of the system and which originates from a US American Scientology company, could tap into the flow of data in the Hamburg government apparatus.

Although Windows provider, Microsoft, has now confirmed in writing that this danger is not associated with the component in question, it will not be installed, stated Renate Mitterhuber, spokesman for the Revenue Office. In doing this they are in keeping with the political proposal in which the city will not do business with Scientologists. (scho)

Book about Scientology to be published anew

Hamburg Abendblatt
December 24, 1997

Four printings with a total of 20,000 copies are sold out; now the book "Scientology Attacks" is to be released by another publisher. In early July Hamburg's Councilman Hartmuth Wrocklage, among others, had publicly endorsed the book. Well-known former Scientologist Gunther Trager and Ursula Caberta, the leader of the Work Group on Scientology for the Hamburg Council, use the book to report on their personal experiences as well as the practices of the controversial sect.

Scientology had defended itself - after the book had already been on the market for months - by alleging that Caberta had used a private letter belonging to the German Scientology president Helmuth Blobaum in connection with the Scientology training of children. Caberta rejected this allegation, saying that, "I used only 'clean' information and documents." In response to that, Scientology claimed that she had quoted from a personal letter "which had been pilfered out of the mailbox of the Blobaum family by an unknown person" and had landed on Caberta's desk. According to Hans K. Lehne, attorney for Econ Publishing, "the book will no longer be published" at Econ for this and because of other difficulties.

(scho)

Vexed over Scientology Bus

US Sect parks their mobile billboard on public space without a permit

From: "Hamburger Morgenpost"
February 24, 1999

Scientology is once again making a nuisance of itself in Hamburg; the US sect puts their advertising bus in public parking areas without a permit and distributes flyers on the sidewalks entitled, "The Truth." In these the sect discounts its critics and the Christian Churches.

This past Saturday the sect adherents stood outside the Alster shopping center on Heegbarg. "That is a commercial use of public space and requires a permit," said Michael Naefken, Director of the Alstertal district office. "However, a permit was not present. We would not have issued it."

The large bus has also been parked on Jungfernstieg. Again, it was on Saturday, since this is the day when there is the least chance of being caught by a district inspector. "We know that there have been violations in the past," said Gertold Roch, spokesman for the district. Scientology has recently applied for a permit to put its bus on display in the city. The district legal office will make its decision shortly.

fw

http://www.mopo.de/seiten/19990224/hamburg-artikel12.html

Hamburg, Germany
May 31, 2000
taz

According to a statement by Ursula Caberta, Director of the "Work Group on Scientology" (AGS) of the Interior Agency, the Scientology Organization is taking further steps against the "Technology Statement" of the AGS with which companies and institutions can protect themselves against doing business with other companies who operate according to the technology of Scientologist L. Ron Hubbard. Scientology's so-called "German Office for Human Rights" is writing to companies and associations and demanding that they desist from using what they call "sect filters."

Scientology loses their case

Sect's complaint dismissed -
they smile nevertheless

Smiles, always smiles: that is important to the Scientologists when it comes to impressing visitors

Hamburg, Germany
April 8, 2000
Hamburger Morgenpost Online

After U.S. American Bob Minton (Scientology Enemy Number 1) and Stacy Brooks, who spent nine months in the sect's "rehabilitation camp," reported on their experiences in Hamburg yesterday, the sect opened a colorful exhibit on Valentinskamp and ignominiously lost a court hearing.

Loud color pictures, beaming faces, cardboard facades with nothing behind them: "form your own picture of Scientology" read the exhibit invitations in an office over "Valentino's." Until Wednesday one can evaluate things including the "e-meter," how it is used in "auditing," the striptease of the soul which is typical for the sect: the subject holds onto cylinders. When the "trained technical authority" pinches him, the needle moves. According to Scientology, not only pinches, but also "roots of spiritual barriers" can be detected with the device.

In real life, yesterday was a bitter defeat for Scientology. The money sect's complaint against the Interior Agency was dismissed in Administrative Court for lack of admissibility. Scientology had jumped in on a case involving two operator's of a "development studio." The women, who wanted to use their methods to facilitate weight loss, were presented with a "technology document," as formulated by the "Work Group on Scientology." They were supposed to sign that they did not practice according to the teachings of sect guru L. Ron Hubbard. The court dismissed the women's complaint and that of the Scientologists, too.

Nobody doubts, however, that Scientologist attorney Wilhelm Bluemel and Germany chief Helmut Bloebaum will appeal. There is a method to their legal proceedings: "In this way we want to implement freedom of religion in Germany," said the opinion leader. Not only that, but he said they had been belittled for a long time. He said things were different from the assertions about them; the building on Steindamm, for instance, had not been left with back rent due.

And the ex-members who say bad things about Scientology, according to Hamburg spokesman Frank Busch, "are always the same ones. They make their rounds. Other businesses also have discontented people who leave, too." Businesses which call themselves "church," however, are few and far between.

jel

"Security statements": Scientology threatens brokers

From: "Hamburger Abendblatt" Germany
December 18, 1998

Companies and associations who do not want Scientology influence have begun receiving mail from the controversial organization. The letters state that they should withdraw "security statements," which, from the Scientologists' view, are discriminatory, and by which means employees, customers and business partners must state that they are neither Scientologists, nor do they use the technology of sect founder L. Ron Hubbard.

In one of the first letters, the Scientology "German Office for Human Rights" in Munich had sent questionnaires to companies all around the country (twelve of them in Hamburg), in which questions were asked such as whether, when, and at whose urging the "security statements" had been introduced. In another letter, which, according to a statement by Hamburg Scientology speaker Gisela Hackenjos, was only sent to the German Brokers Group ["Ring Deutscher Makler"] (RDM), Scientology stated that it would soon publish which companies, groups and associations continued to use a "security statement."

The RDM stated, in response, that it did not intend "to modify the regulations of the Hamburg state associations," in spite of this threat. Ursula Caberta, Director of the Work Group on Scientology for the State, said that the addressees should "not be afraid" and to call her in case of emergency. For Caberta, the letters are the continuation of a campaign from 1993. At that time Scientology claimed that they were being persecuted by Germany as the Jews were by the Nazis. (scho)