FREIHEIT - Special Edition Published by the Scientology Church Note: This is not an official translation Munich, Germany The original German text was downloaded on September 14, 2000 from http://www.menschenrechtsbuero.de/freiheit.htm Corruption Scandal in Hamburg's Interior Agency Ursula Caberta under oath in U.S. Court Yes, I have taken private money From Bob Minton [image of Bob Minton and Ursula Caberta with bottom 1/3 of picket sign] sub-text: In short sleeves with money falling out of his pockets: Bob Minton (left, loan provider) and the Department Director of the Hamburg Interior Agency Caberta (middle, loan debtor) in Florida.

Ursula Caberta, Director of the Work Group on Scientology, a tenant of the Interior Agency, who had traveled to the USA, tried everything to stop her deposition in a U.S. court. Mighty curious, the summons which had been served upon her came right back to the process server as a paper projectile.

None of her tricks helped her. To avoid a warrant for her arrest, Caberta finally appeared before the Tampa District Court in Florida, accompanied by two lawyers.

[image of Bob Minton and Ursula Caberta sitting at table facing audience] sub-text: Bob Minton as guest of honor of the Interior Agency in Hamburg in early April of 2000. His deals with the former military dictator in Nigeria had been uncovered shortly before. The Interior Agency was aware of that.

The court had previously ordered her deposed in an oral hearing and had dismissed as unfounded objections which had been brought forward.

Caberta's lawyers tried loquaciousness at the last minute to prevent the hearing. They said their client was a completely normal tourist from Germany and demanded to be treated as such.

But the more they railed against the deposition, the more grew the visible mistrust in Judge Moody. He decided quickly and conclusively that the deposition would take place. Caberta was sworn in, her statements were taken down on video and on tape, was well as word for word by a stenographer. Therefore there was no question as to the documentation of her statements.

The big bang went off in the middle of the deposition: to the question of whether she had obtained money from the U.S. American Bob Minton, with whom she was in official contact in her capacity as an employee of the City of Hamburg, Ursula Caberta was caught short. First she tried to deviate persistently. Finally there was nothing left for her to do but to answer the question, "Bob Minton gave me a loan." No written loan contract existed and Bob Minton had nothing in his hands in writing which would put him in the position to get his money back from her again. She had not informed her employer about this.

She said that was her personal business and therefore did not concern her employer at all. To the question of the amount of the load, she persistently refused to answer despite being asked multiple times.

Therefore it has been determined: Ursula Caberta has accepted "private" money from Bob Minton.

[image of a portion of a hotel advertisement showing a picture of a hotel and the words "Tour the Belleview Biltmore and take your..."] sub-text: Only the finest: Agency representative Caberta resided in luxurious lodged known across America. Minton paid.

From her refusal to answer the question about the amount of the loan, it is not difficult to guess that it must have been a stately sum. But who takes out such a loan without a written loan agreement or security, and probably without interest? Businessman Minton, who has done business in all types of places, would have in all probability verified the loan in writing if he would have had the intention of ever demanding it back.

The false declaration of a loan would always have the "advantage" of not having gift tax in the amount of approximately 17% levied. If the payment would have been a compensation for services of any sort at all, even though disloyal, it would have to have been reported for income tax.

One way or another: a loan is essentially an even more perfidious instrument of bribery than is a "generous" gift.

The provider of the loan always has the official or employee right where he wants them, under control. With any display of a lack of well-being by the state service, the loan can been called in at any time - quite naturally, if no written agreement about the duration of the loan exists. The official cannot conduct a refund process since the fact of bribery would be apparent to the court.

Therefore the provider of the loan has the official in the palm of his hand and can have him dance to his own tune at his leisure.

And Bob Minton did just that, too.

First, however, he let himself be spoiled by Caberta after he had been received officially as a state guest of the Hamburg Interior Senate in early April. In Leipzig he was solemnly bestowed an "Alternative Charlemagne Award"

in early June (FREIHEIT reported) because Minton - according to the Award Committee - was more deserving of such an award than U.S. President Clinton.

He had just received the real Charlemagne Award of the City of Aachen.

Caberta gave the award winner the Laudatio personally, and she appeared in all the literature of the Award Committee with full official title. It's just not clear whether the granting of the surreptitious loan took place before or after the "Leipzig goings-on," i.e., whether the bestowal of the award influenced the "private" loan or vice versa.

Either one would be equally obscene.

The Human Rights Award-Money Connection surely involved obligations - for Ursula Caberta, anyway.

Namely, Bob Minton was in a jam while the home-made award was being presented. He had invested over one million dollars in the so-called "Lisa McPherson Trust,"

which, in turn, used this money to finance a profit-bearing compensation procedure. If this procedure were to miscarry, then Minton's million dollar investment would be down the drain. And things are not going well with this procedure (see box to the right). What better for Minton than for him and the government representative from Hamburg, Caberta, to carry out some "flanking public information work" in the jurisdiction of the U.S. court.

Bob Minton called - and Caberta came. As a "tourist"

demonstrator in the USA, she did not stray any more from the side of her sponsor.

In spite of the alleged private character of her trip to the USA, she invoked the right associated with her office to not answer questions related to Scientology in the court hearing. She also left the question of which information she had forwarded to Minton unanswered, since that was a part of her official business. The only thing recognizably private about Caberta's trip to Florida was the circumstance in which she let Minton pay for her luxury hotel.

Before Caberta's USA trip, Hamburg's Interior Senator Wrocklage was clearly instructed about the circumstances in matters of Minton in several attorney letters. He was made aware of the original text of the criminal complaint filed against Bob Minton on June 23, 2000 by the Republic of Nigeria with the State Attorney General in Geneva. According to the text of this complaint, Bob Minton was said to have caused Nigeria damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars through fraud, falsification of documents and money-laundering.

Nigeria also demanded that Minton's foreign accounts in Switzerland be frozen. Wrocklage was very clearly reminded that it is intolerable when an Interior Agency maintains connection to someone who has been incriminated in the most severe white-collar crimes by a foreign state and several foreign media. All the same, Wrocklage saw no need to handle.

In doing that, he has taken personal responsibility for what he is answering to today. The impression was and is being given that official business is influenced in an unfair way by the payment of money and the appearance that official deals are for sale. Caberta, described by the media as "Scientology Opponent Nr. 1," has accepted money from Bob Minton. That is indisputable. She, who is supposed to exercise "unbiased discretion," thereby is practically on the payroll of one of the two parties.

More than that, though, is the question of what moral scruples a leading staff member of the Interior Agency must have in order to take money which, according to the government of a foreign state, has come from a criminal hand.

[image of Jesse Prince and Ursula Caberta seated at a table. Empty glasses are visible.

sub-text: His hand on her shoulder tells the photo story on the internet: Jesse Prince and Ursula Caberta in Leipzig in early June 2000.

then there's an inset image, a mug shot of Jesse Prince accompanied by "Pinellas County Sheriff's Office" and a star with personal info on a booking record sub-text: August 11, 2000: Jesse Prince mug shot at a police station] It's certain that this is a case for the state attorney.

Therefore, a criminal complaint has been filed against Minton and Caberta at the Hamburg State Attorney's Office for bribery, soliciting favors and money-laundering.

The Scientology Church demands immediate public explanation of the following items:

1. How high was the loan given to Caberta by Minton?

2. When and where was it paid?

3. In which form or under which accompanying circumstances was it paid?

4. What securities did the loan giver receive?

5. When is the loan supposed to be paid back?

6. Was the loan made with interest?

7. Why was no written agreement made?

8. For which purpose was the loan made?

9. In which agencies decisions has Caberta had an effect since she received the loan?

10. Have staff of the Interior Agency been instructed to report bequests of money of this type to the agency chief?

11. Have payments of any other sort been made to other staff of the Work Group on Scientology?

12. Is Interior Senator Wrocklage aware of the payment of money to Ursula Caberta?

Obviously Caberta must be relieved of all duties, effective immediately, as Director of the Work Group on Scientology, until the criminal complaints have been cleared up. It would be simply unbearable if, out of inner party loyalty or for some such reason or another, crass accusations of corruption were to become the daily routine.

--- Unofficial translations of German media, For non-commercial use only Recent events - http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm Informational publications http://members.tripod.com/German_Scn_News Over 1200 articles sorted by date http://cisar.org/sortdate.htm

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