Charity or Scam?

WITH IT'S FOUNDER AMDI PETERSEN WANTED BY INTERPOL FOR AGRAVATED EMBEZZLEMENT AND TAX EVASION IS PLANET AID PART OF A CULT, AN INTERNATIONAL CHARITY, A BUSINESS RACKET OR ALL OF THE ABOVE?

A CULT DRIVEN BY MONEY AND GREED

From a small travelling school in Denmark came Tvind, from Tvind came Humana People to People and then Planet Aid. They are run from the top through the "Teachers Group" who are donating all their wages and time to the cause in order to save the planet, but this seem to be making their founder Amdi Petersen more able to evade the law and make his life more comfortable. Planet Aid UK is a Teachers Group company.

This commercial enterprise based in the north of England collects old clothes in roadside collection boxes and door-to-door and states that it sells them 'for Africa'. Through links with various schools and colleges such as the CICD, it also helps 'train volunteers' to spend a gap year in the developing world. Yes, but....... Planet Aid is not a registered charity. In fact, quite the reverse - it must be regarded as an integral part of a $860 million multinational business and commercial empire.

Planet Aid is controlled by the Teachers Group, a secretive body tainted by serious allegations of criminal financial misconduct. To quote from an article in the Rotterdam Dagblad newspaper of 18th February 1995-
For Dutch Members of Parliament P van Heemst (Social Democrats) and E van Middelkoop (GPV) the discoveries of this newspaper lead to more chamber-questions about Humana and Tvind to the ministers concerned. "It is a frustrating case," says Van Middelkoop. "For years, I've known Humana is not in order, but until now we could not find proof. A beneficial organisation that has nothing to hide, is open. But Humana always gives rise to suspicion and shows an evil side. External control is impossible, the organisation exists of unclear structures and it is impossible to check the pattern of expenses. I must admit: it is a construction of genius. Otherwise Tvind and Humana could never have survived for all these years." And almost 20 years later they seem even more entrenched.

The Teachers Group is an international organisation now likely based in Mexico or Zimbabwe, whose leaders are currently facing prosecution for alleged fraud in Europe and are in hiding from the police. Any claims that there is no connection between Planet Aid UK and the Teachers Group or the Danish Tvind organisation are entirely false.

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Mexican police tracking down cult school leader

Denmark has called for assistance to find former Tvind school leader Mogens Amdi Petersen, who may be hiding in Mexico.

The search continues for one of Denmark’s most wanted men, as Mexican police have agreed to start an investigation to find the former leader of the controversial Tvind school project, Mogens Amdi Petersen.
“Mexican authorities have received an order to arrest and deport him,” Jose Manjarrez, a spokesperson for Mexico's public prosecutor, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. "We haven’t found him yet, so the search continues.”...read more

The Copenhagen Post

Planet Aid's "Recycling" Program, Debunked!

CharityWatch has been keeping an eye on Planet Aid, a charity known for its ubiquitous clothing collection boxes, for many years. This charity consistently reports low overhead and high program spending in its annual financial documents, but a closer analysis by CharityWatch reveals a different picture of how efficiently Planet Aid is operating.

Planet Aid reports spending 84% of its expenses on programs in 2012. CharityWatch's analysis of Planet Aid's 2012 tax form and audited financial statements shows the charity spending only 27% of its expenses on programs...read more

CharityWatch (formerly The American Institute of Philanthropy)

The Man in Miami - 5302 Fisher Island Drive

The story that brought the details of Amdi's luxury lifestyle to the public:

Security on Fisher Island is the Alpha and Omega of the status of the island as the resort of celebrities. Without it, TV star Oprah Winfrey, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, pop icon Ricky Martin, actors Julia Roberts, Robert de Niro and Sylvester Stallone, and a large number of sports stars lead by tennis bigwigs André Agassi and Boris Becker – and many others – would never have gone there. Nor would probably the founder of Samsonite or the Bacardi rum empire heir. According to Jyllands-Posten’s sources, Colombian narcotics kingpins and persons involved with the Russian mafia belong to the clientele of the island....read more

Jyllands-Posten, Denmark, 28th Oct 2001

Mission Control

In 1970, a group of Danish hippies set out on a mission to save the world. Thirty years later, some of the young acolytes they recruited claim the group has become a cult, amassing riches in the hundreds of millions of dollars under the direction of an elusive and mysterious founder. Now, with recruiting efforts reaching into the United States, ex-members say the mission is no longer to save the world but to conquer it...read more

Boston Magazine

Trouble From Denmark

...Mogens Amdi Petersen, the mysterious and wealthy leader of a global network of companies operating under the cover of a charity organization some have called a dangerous cult. The Petersen empire includes schools for troubled youth in Denmark; used-clothing shops and volunteer-recruitment centers (for aid projects in Africa and Central America) in Europe and the U.S.; plantations in Belize, Brazil, and Malaysia; real estate and shipping companies in the Caribbean and Florida; a satellite television station; and a wild-animal ranch in Zimbabwe. There is also a 130-foot luxury yacht (once docked in Palm Beach) named after the woman who played Scarlett's maid in "Gone with the Wind" -- Butterfly McQueen...read more

MiamiNewTimes.com

Mysterious Danish Group Builds Exotic Compound on Baja Coast

"...Today there stands against the brown and barren littoral landscape of San Juan de las Pulgas a huge, mystic compound of brightly hued buildings, cavernous halls, cathedral-styled structures, colonnades, a towering pointed monolith, and a strange-looking sphere, inhabited, it appears, by a small group of mostly middle-aged Danish men and women..."read more

San Diego Reader

The Used Clothes Trophy

“I find it hard to see what their way of doing business has to do with humanitarian work. If they wanted to do good for the people in the Third World, they shouldn’t be selling their used clothes to their own companies, skimming off the biggest profit.”...read more

Berlingske Tidende