The Catholic Tax Haven

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

By Matthew Temme

“The Last Judgment,” the tympanum at the entrance of Fribourg’s St. Nicholas Cathedral

« The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly »

When Ollie North went before the joint Congressional committee which was investigating the Iran-contra affair, he promised that he would reveal everything about “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” (July 7, 1987)  In the same way, the following biographical entries portray a diversity of characters who are either good or bad, and sometimes even ugly. A number of these characters are quite famous. Four of them have graced the cover of Time magazine: Ivan Boesky and Raymond Loewy, once; Ferdinand Marcos twice; and Oliver North, six times.  Agents for Rupert Murdoch (on Time’s cover 3 times), and Saddam Hussein (a whopping 14 times on the cover of Time) set up companies in Fribourg  (see: nos. 21 and 36).  Roman Abramovich (no. 1), Charles and David Koch (no. 44), and François Pinault (no. 74) have figured on Time’s annual “Most Influential People” list. Some of the characters on my list are illustrious: no. 6 was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and no. 61 won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008.

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C A S T   O F   C H A R A C T E R S

By Matthew Temme

The following lists of individuals and companies with connections to Fribourg should be read with certain things in mind. In the “Who’s Who in Fribourg” list, the people whose names are colored in red have all been investigated though not always convicted of crimes. Some have had their convictions overturned on appeal. Others have not been investigated personally, but the companies they ran or controlled were. The details of each person’s legal status will be given in the subsequent biographical section.

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THE GREAT DERATIZATION

By Matthew Temme

Over the years I have continued my research on Fribourg from afar. I have seen Kleptocrats, like Ferinand Marcos, Pavel Lazarenko, and Teodorin Obiang use the Catholic city to defraud their poor compatriots. I have seen financial fraudsters such as Bernie Cornfeld and Vincent Lacrois who have destroyed people’s pensions set up business in the Zaehringan’s “Free City.” I have also seen traffickers in chemical and nuclear weapons such as Hans-Joachim Rose and Safa Haboby quietly establish their evil operations under Fribourg’s black and white flag. Even union-bashing coal-mine owners from Canada and the United States, such as the notorious Clifford Frame from Nova Scotia and the wealthy Drummond family from Alabama, the very culprits that Pope Leo XIII was so critical of in the 19th century, have set up shell operations in the shadow of Fribourg’s beloved St. Nicholas Cathedral. (See Rerum Novarum #42 @ www. papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13rerum.htm)

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