INTELLIGENCE SERVICES AGAINST ORGANISED CRIME?
Eckart Werthebach, president of the Verfassungsschutz , Germany's internal intelligence service, has called on the major political parties to combat organised crime "more efficiently". His agency was willing and able to assist police and public prosecution whenever requested, Mr. Werthebach said at a conference of the Friedrich Ebert foundation in Berlin, on 15 April.
A situation report published the same day by the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation, BKA, also suggests that Mafia syndicates are posing a growing threat to internal security. Mafia groups have further consolidated their organisational structures in 1993, according to the report, and are successfully trying to exercise control of the public administration. The BKA report mentions cases of Mafia influence on politics, justice and economic activity. The total damage caused by Mafia criminality in Germany amounts to 1.9 billion DM.
According to the president of the Verfassungsschutz, the fight against the Mafia requires comprehensive pro-active investigation of its structures, its direction and forms of communication - "a typical intelligence task". Unlike the intelligence services, the police are prohibited by law from carrying out such pro-active observation activities outside criminal investigation. This is why Werthebach advocates a "division of work" among police and intelligence services in combatting organised crime, thus allowing for the full use of the legal powers of both institutions.
Source: Die Welt, 16/17.4.94