Front company
A front company is a company whose activities are only pretended so that illegal activities are also covered. In connection with the tax structuring options and the area of tax evasion , however, one speaks of letterbox companies . Companies that have become legally ineffective are called bogus companies.
Intelligence services
method
Firms set up by people, groups or organizations (intelligence and intelligence services, the military and governments) to cover up and finance intelligence operations and covert investigations in the field of serious, gang and organized crime . Often, however, existing companies are also used to gain intelligence through their regular activities or to recruit staff.
Firms set up by German services in Germany officially pay taxes and social security contributions in order to camouflage the real identity of the civil servants employed as staff and to reward informants. The institutions or chambers responsible for the establishment are of course not informed about the "intended intelligence service purpose", as the Federal Government announced in its answer to a small question from Bundestag member Martina Renner . The capital for the establishment and operation of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) are made available from their respective budgets, whereas front companies of the MAD require “no capital investment”.
Examples of front companies (Germany)
- Interhandel , a front company of IG Farben in Switzerland.
- "Thiele und Friedrichs Marketing GbR" of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) was a company founded in 2003, the sole purpose of which was to pay the Iraqi refugee Rafid Ahmed Alwan (alias Curveball ) for his statements on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He gave the BND information about Iraq's biological weapons program , which u. a. were doubted by intelligence officials. The BND passed the information on to the American partner services, where it ultimately reached the then Defense Minister Donald Rumsfeld . The statements became politically relevant on February 5, 2003, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell informed the UN Security Council about the existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. Powell also referred to the statements of an "Iraqi chemical engineer" who is said to have monitored the production of biological weapons, that is, Rafid Ahmed Alwan. On the basis of these statements, too, the USA forced the invasion of Iraq, which was then ruled by Saddam Hussein . In 2011, Alwan told the British Guardian that his information about alleged biological weapons and secret mass destruction facilities was a lie.
Examples of front companies (USA)
- Tepper Aviation is an airline allegedly financed by the US secret service CIA . It is associated with Extraordinary rendition .
- Studio Six , a film production company founded to camouflage Operation Canadian Caper , see also Argo (film) .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duden : Front company
- ↑ netzpolitik.org .
- ↑ Printed matter 18/2552 of the German Bundestag
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20131115041809/http://www.geheimerkrieg.de/
- ↑ http://www.20min.ch/news/dossier/irak/story/27483985
- ↑ Martin Chulov & Helen Pidd: Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war . In: The Guardian . February 15, 2011.
- ^ Antonio Mendez: A Classic Case of Deception. On cia.gov