London Sunday Times
Dutch Firm Gave Iraqis Training For Spying On Nato
By Matthew Campbell and Jon Ungoed-Thomas
A DUTCH electronics firm provided Iraq with technology and training that were used to spy on Nato, documents unearthed in Baghdad have revealed.
Hoka Electronic, which makes data decoding equipment, supplied items to Baghdad as recently as 2000. It taught Iraqi intelligence officers how to use them in a Bulgarian security service safe house.
Horst Diesperger, the companys director in Oude Pekela, a village in northeastern Holland, confirmed last week that he had travelled to Bulgaria to carry out training, but said the clients had told him they came from Jordan and Syria. He said Hoka supplied the equipment not directly to the end user.
Knowingly providing Iraq with such equipment would have constituted a violation of United Nations sanctions, which prohibited the sale to Baghdad of items with potential military uses.
CODE30, as one of the Hoka programmes is known, offers military, government and . . . monitoring installations the ability to enhance operators search and monitor operations in the HF radio spectrum, says the companys website, quoting from a reference in Janes Military Communications.
According to Hoka, the companys main business is development and distribution of software-based decoders such as CODE30, CODE300 and CODE3-GOLD. An Iraqi who helped to broker the Hoka deal said Saddam Husseins ousted regime had acquired all three.
According to the Iraqi source, Hoka products were used with communications equipment provided by other countries to eavesdrop on military traffic in Turkey, a Nato member.
The documents show that discussions went on for some time about a training session with Hoka in which a Bulgarian company acted as an intermediary between Diesperger and Iraq.
In November 1996 Diesperger wrote to Bulgaria saying the course would be run by one or two engineers from our side and that the most easy way would be to conduct the training in Oude Pekela with all the necessary equipment.
This apparently did not suit the Iraqis and it was not until March 1998 that a group of intelligence officers was dispatched from Baghdad to Bulgaria to meet Diesperger.
The Iraqi source said Bulgarian intelligence officials had helped by providing the safe house in Sofia for training. They had organised the import of Hoka products to Bulgaria, after which the equipment had been transferred to Baghdad through Iraqi front companies in Cyprus and Jordan.
Diesperger acknowledged the visit to Bulgaria. The training was for a small group of customers of this Bulgarian company, he said. The guys came from Amman, Jordan, and one of them, as far as I remember, came from Damascus, Syria.
Diesperger said Hoka would have had no problem supplying Iraq in spite of UN sanctions because no applications were rejected. If we have a customer in whatever country and he wants a disk, we send it to him, he said.
He said it never occurred to him that his products might violate sanctions: Its software and we sell it worldwide.
Asked if he had ever knowingly dealt with Iraq, Diesperger said: No, never. I guess never. Im nearly sure never. I dont think so. Among the documents, however, was a letter he had faxed to a number in Baghdad in which he wrote: About the mentioned disks. This will give no problems.
UN resolution 661 makes clear that supplying software that has a potential military use without its approval would be a breach of the sanctions.
Foutje van dit bedrijf of toch moedwillig zaken doen met Irak??
Enne, als we geld kunnen verdienen doen we eraan mee. 
quote:London Sunday Times
Op dinsdag 6 mei 2003 21:31 schreef NightH4wk het volgende:
Bron?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-668815,00.html
voor de ongelovige...
[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door cptmarco op 06-05-2003 21:35]
quote:Ik kan dat er ook bovenzetten, maar ik geloof je wel.
Op dinsdag 6 mei 2003 21:32 schreef cptmarco het volgende:[..]
London Sunday Times
).quote:Duh, de VS kan het zelf wel af, hebben ze de Navo niet voor nodig, dus die mag wel bespioneerd worden.
Op dinsdag 6 mei 2003 21:36 schreef du_ke het volgende:
Toch nog bedrijven met een gezonde Hollandse handelsgeest, zolang je er maar geld aan kan verdienen gewoon met iedereen handelen. Ook al kunnen ze het tegen ja gebruiken. (hoewel ik niet kan zeggen veel problemen te hebben met het bespioneert worden van de Navo
En idd, we love euro's.
[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door NightH4wk op 06-05-2003 21:39]
.quote:Jij kan het weten.
Op dinsdag 6 mei 2003 21:39 schreef tvlxd het volgende:
Nee, het werd verkocht aan Syriërs en Jordaniërs,
Softwarebedrijf uit Oude Pekela genoemd als leverancier Saddam
Hans Knijff
oude pekela - Softwarepro-ducent Hoka Electronic uit Oude Pekela is in opspraak geraakt. Het bedrijf zou decoderingssoftware hebben geleverd aan het verdreven bewind van Saddam Hoessein. "Onzin", reageert eigenaar/ directeur Horst Diesperger van Hoka op de beschuldiging, die dit weekeinde werd geuit in de Britse Sunday Times.
De krant baseert zich op documenten die de geallieerden hebben aangetroffen in Bagdad. Hoka Electronic zou software hebben geleverd die Irak in staat stelde om gesprekken van NAVO-lid Turkije af te luisteren. Diesperger zelf zou de gebruikers van de software een training hebben gegeven. Dit alles zou tussen 1998 en 2000 hebben plaatsgehad. Als het klopt, is sprake van een regelrechte overtreding van het jarenlange handelsembargo van de Verenigde Naties tegen Irak.
Zakenman Diesperger, die al sinds 1974 zijn eenmanszaak Hoka drijft, zegt niets te snappen van de commotie. "Ik heb nooit aan een Iraakse klant geleverd. Bovendien gaat het om niet-strategische software die overal ter wereld vrij te koop is."
Hoka onderhoudt een dealernetwerk met verkooppunten tot in Korea, Taiwan en Australië.
Tja, business is business ... 