Haag, Engrams from Albania
German_Scn_News
Bonn aid for the sect
The notorious Scientology sect has its eyes on Albania. Of help
to the infiltration of developing countries are the federal
commerce ministry, agencies and politicians.
Bonn, Germany
December 24, 1993
IG-Metall, Nr.23, 1993, p. 10
Dr. Michael Scheele, an attorney with a plush address on
Munich's Prinzregentenplatz, is interested of all places in the
most impoverished country of Europe: Albania. On December
7, 1992, he verified for the "Cooperation Office of German
Commerce" in Berlin that he was participating in the "Commerce
meeting on Albania." Included on the guest list were the
Albanian ambassador, staff of the federal commerce ministry
and representatives from banks and industry. Also his client,
Gerhard Haag, would be coming, wrote Scheele; specifically,
Haag would be preparing a "major investment project in Tirana,"
the Albanian capitol city.
Official Aid
Apparently taking part in the commerce meeting paid off for
Haag and Scheele. That same month, Scheele was summoned
into the Albanian constitutional commission and, since then, has
had close contact to the Albanian government.
Gerhard Haag also obtained official aid from Bonn. The federal
commerce ministry verified on March 26, 1993, that he and his
company "Albanien Bau und Handel" ("Albanian Building and
Trade") "would be provided construction work "in the interest of
broadening the cooperation and commercial relations between
the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Albania in
the infrastructure and in the building of that country." In actuality,
Haag, the big Scientology investor, went to Albania the end of
last year and there, in the service of the sect, started its "Project
A." In Tirana he wants to raise a multi-storied trade center
which would "harbor ... and bring into this country"
Scientology's technology, as the sect center in Clearwater,
Florida revealed. Thanks to aid from many sides, Haag was able
to climb up to "preferred German investor," according to an
inside source. Suspicions abound that Haag's attorney, Scheele,
will be providing valuable service with his government contacts.
Surely the fact that CSU federal representative Dr. Juergen
Warnke (CSU), former development aid minister, was, up until
recently, Scheele's partner in his law office on
Prinzregentenplatz, will be of use.
According to a binding contract from August, 1992, Scheele
and his partners Andreas Zielke and Juergen Warnke carried
out the sale of Haag's former company, the "Stahlbautechnik
Neckar" (STN), which helped him prepare his move to Albania.
For doing that the attorneys took in over 300,000 marks.
According to the contract, signed by Scheele, Warnke, who
until recently was the CSU chairman, was supposed to help with
the sale or the restoration of STN.
Warnke disputes having been aware of this deal with Haag. He
said neither had he given his agreement to taking on a client. At
the end of October, Warnke suddenly left the law offices on
Prinzregentenplatz. Just in the nick of time. Several days later the
state attorney's office went there and confiscated numerous files
because of the connection to Haag.
(Michael Linkersdoerfer, from IG-Metall, Nr.23, 1993, p. 10)
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CSU refuses to clean up an internal Scientology affair
Munich, Germany
March 7, 1998
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)
Albanian Shadows over the Hanns-Seidel Foundation
Staff warned of sect attack
Stuttgart superior court confirms developments in Tirana
by Conny Neumann
Munich (SZ) - In early 1993, top Scientologist Gerhard Haag
was making his way from Lichtenwald, Swabia to start Project
A. Behind that move he plan to penetrate the new construction
market taking place in Albania with the teachings of Scientology
founder L. Ron Hubbard, and to install an SC (Scientology
Church) center in Albania. To get his foot in the door, Haag,
who at the time was being sought on an international arrest
warrant because of suspicious movements of money and other
peculiarities in his Swabian steel company, got a letter of
recommendation from the federal commerce ministry. The
government agency wrote the businessman a confirmation that
his Albania Building and Trade company would be performing
valuable construction work.
Shortly prior to that, the CSU aligned Munich Hanns-Seidel
Foundation (HSF) had decided to try its luck in Albania. The
young project leader, Michael Kosmala from Amber in
Oberpfalz, was send by the HSF to Tirana in order to get
acceptance from Albania's management and institution offices.
Not a small part of Kosmala's activity consisted of making
Albania's minister or minister president aware of the presence of
CSU greats in Tirana. CSU guests to Albania in 1993 included
Munich's federal representative Erich Riedl as well as former
traffic minister Juergen Warnke.
Warnke and his law office partner, the Munich attorney and
known Scientology defender Michael Scheele, petitioned the
Albanian government chiefs, who, in turn, took the lawyers'
client, Gerhard Haag, under their wing and put things in motion
at the government offices for the businessman from Swabia.
Today Kosmala claims that Warnke also must have been aware
of the open arrest warrant for Haag at the time. Haag was
already investing in Albania, and a part of the delegation could
view the project at the invitation of the German Embassy.
Both Scheele and Haag intended on making good money in
Albania through the CSU aligned Hanns-Seidel Foundation.
While Warnke's partner offered the Albanian justice minister a
legal study from his Albanian Business-Consult [sic] for
approximately 200,000 marks, which the HSF was supposed to
co-finance, Scheele, Warnke and Haag looked for offices in the
HSF building in Tirana. Michael Kosmala sounded the
counter-attack. In numerous memoranda and letters the project
leader instructed the HSF foreign director Rainer Gepperth and
HSF business manager Manfred Baumgaertel to keep the
foundation's money and offices out of the clutches of Scheele,
Warnke and Haag. Kosmala also wrote that Warnke had tried
to extort money from him. The CSU representative was said to
have advised him about a share in a Haag company. Obviously
the matter was highly uncomfortable for Gepperth. He wrote to
his law office partners that he could do without offices for at
most two months. A little later Gepperth learned that Scheele
had planned a big dedication ceremony in the the HSF building
in Tirana. Unfortunately, as the foreign director wrote, he could
not participate: "You are nevertheless at liberty to undertake the
opening of your office."
Kosmala, who was getting desperate and who saw his
foundation being infiltrated by the Scientologists, ran to the
Albanian justice minister, Hudret Cela, and warned him about
Scheele. Haag's attorney did not receive the lucrative contract
that he had already been promised for the study. An ARD TV
team also learned about the contact between the Hans-Seidel
Foundation and Scientology. Kosmala wanted to tell the
complete story to the ARD journalists, but Baumgaertel
delineated exactly which lines he could say. The wording was
neutral.
Then began the professional decline of the project leader.
Kosmala had to sign a draft letter to Minister Cela in which he
apologized for his statements about Scheele and in which he
took back everything. The text was conveyed to Kosmala
through HSF southeast Europe director Klaus Fiesinger.
Gepperth said to me, "Kosmala, you have done great damage,
see to it that it is repaired," reported the man from Amberg. A
little later Kosmala received a written warning from Gepperth.
The foreign chief let his staff member know that he would, in the
future, be more reserved with his statements. In early 1996,
Kosmala was then let go. Due to cut-backs, the HSF could no
longer use him, it was said.
Now the 39-year-old man from Amberg has made a last
attempt at reinstatement and he hit paydirt in the CSU, which is
still his party at heart. The Stuttgart superior court, in a decision
concerning a "Suedkurier" newspaper, which reported on the
Albania affair, sided with the former project leader. Kosmala's
statements that Scheele, along with Warnke, were involved with
the Scientologist Haag, were plausible, according to the judge.
The presentation by Scheele, who had sued the "Suedkurier,"
appeared to be less likely. Warnke's sworn statement, in which
he emphasized that he had never given Haag a recommendation,
could not convince the judge.
With a pile of evidence, Kosmala then approached Bavarian
Culture State Secretary Monika Hohlmeier and Joachim
Herrman, the CSU General Secretary. The matter has to be
cleared up within the CSU, Kosmala demanded. He was
rejected by both. "I have to ask myself what else Mr. Kosmala
would really like," Monika Hohlmeier told the SZ. The old
procedures have been cleaned up, Herrman believes. He said he
did not want to interfere with the affairs of the Hanns-Seidel
foundation. Nevertheless, Kosmala's opposition to the SC
endeavors has earned him respect. Warnke communicated
through his office in Bonn that he had never had anything to do
with Scientology. He had nothing else to say about it. But the
man from Amburg will not settle for that.
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Attorney makes clear his distance from Scientology
Munich, Germany
March 14, 1998
Sueddeutsche Zeitung
Michael Scheele: Connecting me to the sect is only an
afterthought.
Munich (SZ) - Munich attorney Michael Scheele (50) believes
he has been unjustly associated with the plans of the Scientology
sect (SC) to found a center in Albania in 1993, and with the
plans to accompany the new construction of the state with the
SC teachings (as we reported). According to the lawyer's
version, the accusations made against him were part of a
campaign of revenge by a former staff member of the
Hanns-Seidel Foundation (HSF). HSF project leader Michael
Kosmala was supposed to have established the Hanns-Seidel
Foundation in Albania in 1993. In doing so, he had contact in
Tirana with Scheele, as well as with Scheele's former client,
Gerhard Haag, member of Scientology. Kosmala later asserted
that Scheele had been involved in Haag's business in Albania.
The Munich attorney called this misleading, if not completely
false. He said he did not represent Haag as a Scientologist, nor
did he represent Scientology interests. Scheele: We have
produced expert testimony about the legal ramifications for a
former client, Haag, who wanted to build a hotel. Nothing more
and nothing less. We produce such testimony because we are
regarded as experts in eastern Europe, for companies and for
persons, regardless of membership in religions or sects.
However, our law offices decided four years ago to no longer
represent anyone who professes to Scientology. That is because
we have had the unfortunate experience of being identified with
the all too fast and superficial hysteria along those lines.
Kosmala, according to Scheele, had expected money from him
for referring clients to him and for his cooperation. He had also
wanted a fee for the legal study that Scheele was supposed to
have produced for the justice minister. Scheele said he turned
him down without hesitation. By doing that he apparently set off
an unprecedented campaign of libel.
He said that Kosmala had warned the justice ministry that the
price Scheele was asking for that kind of legal study (200,000
marks for an estimated 750 hours) was too high. For that, he
said, Kosmala later, at the urging of his foundation, had to
apologize to the justice minister. That was the reason, according
to Scheele, for Kosmala inventing the backstabbing story. He
was felt depressed. And, months later, when he learned that
Scheele's former client, Gerhard Haag, was a Scientologist, he
began talking people into believing that Scheele had support
Haag in his Scientology infiltration. Thank God that he could put
the matter to rest in court. And the broadcaster by whom Mr.
Kosmala hit the skids then also aired a suitable correction.
Today attorney Scheele advises and represents famous
Scientology critics, like Steven Goldner, and he and his
colleagues have legally reviewed an information book about
Scientology (Scientology in Management, Econ-Verlag) to
ensure it against attacks from the ranks of the Scientologists.
With that as background, according to Scheele, it is an
afterthought to put him in connection with the sect in any form.
One year ago the Berlin State Court made a decision about a
complaint from attorney Scheele by which his law office was no
longer to be mentioned (mainly in press releases) as formerly
occasionally representing Scientologists. The harm from that was
too great, explained Scheele. He won. The Berlin judge came to
the conclusion that Scheele could at no time be credited with a
connection to Scientology. The decision is legally binding.
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