West Midlands

Giles Latcham examines the link between the College of International Co-operation and Development and a controversial Danish organisation called TVIND.

Planet Aid

For the last two years, ASDA has been removing 'Planet Aid' clothes collection banks from its car parks.

"You want to be reassured that the people you're working with are donating the money they're making to a good cause," says Dominic Burch from the supermarket chain.

"We've asked them to give us full traceability, to open their books and show us where the money goes, and it just wasn't forthcoming."

Dig deeper and the mysterious appearance of Planet Aid clothes banks can be traced back to a Danish organisation that's been branded a cult - and to a controversial college.

Helping the developing world?

In Small Heath, Birmingham, students of the College for International Co-Operation and Development are supposed to be studying to do worthwhile work in the developing world...

But Inside Out has spoken to students from the college who say most of their 'studies' involved little more than working very long days, collecting second-hand clothes.

CICD College - helping the Third World?

And a call to the city council in Birmingham reveals that, because the college doesn't have a licence to collect, it's breaking the law.

Former students say they were expected to collect almost £3,000 worth of recycled clothes in four months and they felt exploited and overworked for the sake of raising cash for the college.

David Rose was a student of the CICD at its Hull HQ for two months.

He walked out of the college in 2007, horrified by the standard of teaching and the conditions.

He told us: "You have to stay within the support structure of this organisation - and if you deviate in any way, they say 'you're leaving, we don't want you in this organisation any more'."

Misinformed?

Karen Barsoe, the head of the college, told us in written answers to our questions that we were misinformed about the licence.

We called to double check, and confirmed that CICD doesn't have a licence to collect in Birmingham.

When we asked why the college was misleading students about the amount of clothes collecting work, Ms Barsoe said they always describe their course as hard work.

Finally, Karen Barsoe denied that students' working hours were unacceptable - and stressed that they're free to leave the college at any time.

So what's the link between the college and Planet Aid, the company who were having their clothes bank removed from the supermarket car park?

It's a woman called Birgit Soe, from Solihull. She's a director of Planet Aid, and she's also a director of the College of International Co-operation and Development.

Expenses and expenditure

And when BBC journalist Paul Murphy investigated her company Planet Aid in 2008, he discovered it only gave 12% of the money it raised to good causes.

"We were shown the accounts for tax year 2006/2007 - and they showed rather surprisingly that this company was turning over in excess of a million pounds every year from recycling old clothes and shoes.

Birgit Soe answers concerns.

"And we saw that 400,000 of this million went on what Birgit Soe described as 'staffing and administration costs'," Paul told us.

"And we saw that only 120,000 of the million turnover was given to what Birgit Soe described as good causes."

When we caught up with Birgit Soe, she told us: "It's all the expenses for the rent for the salaries and everything.

"It's a not for profit company, no shareholders, that's very important."

TVIND links

Inside Out went on to discover that Planet Aid and the CICD are connected with a controversial global organisation called TVIND.

Often described as a cult, this group owns businesses, luxury property and yachts all over the world.

In January 2009, Danish courts sentenced a leading figure from TVIND to two and a half years in prison for fraud.

Warrants have been issued for the arrest of several other leading members who have disappeared without trace.

TVIND - links?

Mike Durham is a journalist who has been investigating TVIND for several years.

"The very same organisation of which Planet Aid is a part has now been successfully prosecuted for fraud.," he told us.

"And there are five or six senior leaders who are now fugitives because they know that if they would go back to Denmark or anywhere in Europe where they were in the reach of the law, they would be arrested, extradited back to Denmark and prosecuted for fraud..."

So if you're thinking about donating unwanted clothes to those green bins owned by Planet Aid - or even signing up to join the course at the College For International Co-operation and Development... perhaps it's worth reconsidering.