REVEALING BRUNO MANSER FONDS’ ILLEGITIMATE CAMPAIGN TACTICS

August 27, 2018

Bruno Manser Fonds have been running their campaign against Sakto since 2010. They have deployed a series of tactics to promote this lengthy and misguided campaign, all of them intended to cause reputational damage against Sakto and its founders.
​
Here we expose BMF and Lukas Straumann’s three main tactics.

Tactic #1 - Generate reports that authorities have money laundering investigations underway, and get the media to repeat the allegations.

BMF have filed and sent 11 complaints and letters across 6 jurisdictions with various authorities (law enforcement agencies, senior politicians, and even heads of state), and deployed extensive methods to promote each action extensively.

​But despite these repeated efforts, no investigations have been pursued. In fact, there has been no third-party validation of these allegations, and not one of their complaints has led to action by any law enforcement agency. Put simply, the legitimate authorities have considered and rejected the BMF allegations against Sakto.

---

Tactic #2 – Make aggressive use of social media, multiple websites and blogs to create the impression that their allegations of money laundering are valid and widely accepted.

In fact, BMF itself have been the only source of these scandalous claims. They have used their public communications channels to manufacture and spin the allegations.

With each complaint to an authority, they would publish and promote the news in a carefully crafted manner, positioning it as “breaking news” and independent evidence of wrongdoing.

---

Tactic #3 - Make unproven accusations of money laundering and challenge Sakto to prove otherwise.

There are legitimate taxation and financial authorities who already have lawful access to all of the information required to satisfy themselves of the corporate and financial governance of Sakto.  

The privately held corporation operates in full compliance with the strict Canadian and Ontario financial and regulatory oversight regimes and has consistently demonstrated good corporate governance and accountability.

---

BMF are an NGO. They do not have the authority or competence to force a Canadian, privately held company to disclose confidential information.  

These are the main tactics that Sakto and its founders have endured since 2010. Even Justice Dunphy at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, in considering the full dossier that Lukas Straumann had put forward, observed that BMF have run a long and intense “multi-front” battle, which suggests “very considerable financial resources have been devoted” to this campaign.

The facts matter. There is no money laundering or corruption. BMF and Lukas Straumann’s allegations are based on “suspicion and conjecture, more than evidence”.

An NGO should not be beyond the law and must be accountable for their words and actions. That is why Sakto is obliged to bring legal action against BMF and Lukas Straumann in Switzerland, to put an end to their illegal defamation campaign.