23.03.2009
Arms
dealers – the Riis-family
Where have all
the money gone?
An
introduction
Riis – a player in the arms trafficking
In previous
articles we have uncovered information that points to the Riis-family as a
player in the arms dealing business. As we know, this business is quite
profitable. Los Angeles Times has documented more than 140 illicit arms trade
flights in a period in 2004. In this regard they interviewed several
contractors connected to the arms trade business. These contractors verified
that Victor Bout
charged some $60.000 for each flight.[1]
Quite a lot of money one would have to agree. I have though got indications
that this “freight cost” is set too low, far too low in certain instances.
Necessary protection
Digging
into such a tensed and tabooed subject will always and almost immediately touch
an infected nerve. Two Norwegian media institutions – TV2 and
Trygve Hegnar’s Finansavisen – seems to have been engaged in protecting and
supporting the Riis-family as they, alongside the Riis-family themselves claims
that they are poor and that I am making them even poorer by executing the will (English translation) of the late Consul Riis. Finding a lot
of money/funds in the Riis-sphere with no natural explanation attached to it,
would obviously make the framework around the conclusion of criminal activity
even stronger. And what did I find? You’ll see.
Arms dealing – Who cares?
My
motivations of writing this series of articles about Arms Dealing and the Riis-family
in particular is to make awareness on how little western peace-nations like
Norway cares about this devastating business and the consequences of this
carelessness, not only for the poor people in the countries and regions where
the bullets finally rest to peace after passing through some vital human
tissue, but for the people that has been conned into helping these criminals,
like myself and several reputable Norwegian politicians.
Instead of
fighting the arms dealing business in
As
mentioned in other articles; to carry out one concealed court case[2]
after the other is only possible by bribing lawyers, judges and other officials
in the system. In this regard it has been documented[3]
that the following Norwegian judges Ms. Hanne Tenden, Ms. Ina Strømstad and
Msr. Kristin Helene Jahre Ramm has been bribed off to act on behalf of this
family and thus have assisted on keeping the truth about the Riis-family
concealed.
In
addition to this especially two lawyers – Ole Kristian Aabø-Evensen and Ingjald
Ørbeck Sørheim (the first one mentioned in Legal500 as a white collar crime
lawyer) – seems to have been controlling the course of the events by handling
the judges and the two media institutions involved in this clandestine
operation; TV2 (major Norwegian commercial TV-channel controlled by the
Norwegian socialist party) and Finansavisen (newspaper controlled by a Mr.
Trygve Hegnar).
All the
above mentioned participants were well informed – prior to the launch of the
clandestine operation against me carried out in an attempt to stop me from
unveiling the truth about 1) the Riis-fortune in Switzerland and how it was
obtained; through arms dealing, and 2) the concealed Nortraship
funds with its millions of dollars belonging to (but although kept away
from) the Norwegian sailors since the WWII – about the Riis-family’s business and their concealed fortune
abroad.
1997 – the first step in helping the poor family
In 1997,
while I was a law student at the University of Oslo, the Riis-family contacted
me[4]
and begged me on their knees to help them fighting back/vindicating their
inheritance which they claimed that the Norwegian Government had stolen from
them during the shipping crisis in the early 1970’.[5]
At this
point in 1997 the family claimed to be flat broke, after having spent all their
funds – they told me – on lawyers and courts in
The first
thing I had to do was thus to apply for free legal aid. The late Consul Einar
Riis had already been refused free legal aid by the county governor, the former
Prime Minister Mr. Kåre Willoch, but I wanted to have another go on this.
I met up with Mr. Willoch early in the spring of 1998. Following this meeting
he opened the door for me into one of the most secret archives in the basement
of the Parliament building, the Hilmar
Reksten-case. I copied some 2.000 documents from this classified archive,
documents which later on became an important part of the base of the law suit
against the Ministry of Justice (a case that we won on
Mr.
Willoch also kindly referred me to the Ministry of Justice in regards to the
application for free legal aid. After some meetings with Deputy Director
General Mr. Jan Gotaas (who later on was found dead[6]
after “falling” out of his office in 2003) in the spring of 1998, I managed to
obtain free legal aid for three of the most important cases in this complex,
worth some $600.000.[7]
Now everything was finally, after almost 30 years of judicial mistreatment, settled
for a fair legal battle in Norwegian courts, against the Norwegian Government,
I thought.
I will not
go into details of the proceedings in these cases in this article as the point
of today is to uncover to what extent not only I have been fooled by this arms
dealer-family but also the common reader and viewer of Norwegian news. Early in
2001 I was named “the Student that solved a miscarriage of justice” this after
being mentioned as the major player to Riis-family’s legal victory in the City
Court of Oslo, granting the family some $6 million (the Attorney General
appealed this judgment which later on was settled, see note 6). At this point
every Scandinavian viewer and reader believed that this family was flat broke,
had been betrayed by the best lawyers in Norway, had been mistreated by the
Norwegian courts for 30 years and that they without doubt deserved whatever
they could get of justice. This picture, solely drawn by the Riis-family’s
members, was nothing but false.
Poor but oh so rich
As I have
documented in an earlier article (sorry, it’s in Norwegian. Please use Google
language for now) on this subject, the Riis-family – when they approached
me in 1997 acting as a poor and judicially systematically raped family – owned
a small village of some 34 apartments in the Canary Islands, Club de Mar. On top of this they either owned or leased
estates in Italy, Sardinia (Italy), Norway, USA, and Monaco worth millions of
dollars, this in addition to concealed funds in numerous Swiss and Monegasque
accounts and safe-deposit boxes. Accordingly the family were not entitled to free legal aid, and had
never been. Applying for and accepting the free legal aid was thus nothing but
a wilfully deception of Norwegian authority. Fooling me to find a solution and
a settlement with the Ministry of Justice and by this making the Government to
pay some $8 million to the family clearly places this family on the podium as
one of the greatest impostors in Norwegian history.
Rome – April 2008
In April
2008 I was invited to a meeting in Rome with one of the late Consul Riis’
directors as well as with one of his secretaries. In this meeting they both
expressed how loaded with money the Riis-family was in the 1970-80’ and how
they would hide away their wealth (money and sport cars) in Monaco in order to
keep a low profile. I can assure you that the family weren’t less loaded during
the 1990’ and the 2000’.
Kenneth Patrizio Riis
Mr.
Kenneth Patrizio Riis – the best friend of Mr. Alessandro Sangue, Mr. David
Paul Tokoph’s right hand in Africa (see this article for more in-dept information on Mr. Riis) – has
according to his father never done a good days work before he started his
career as a captain with the Italian carrier Meridiane.
According
to himself he is married – which he is
not[8]
according to these official Norwegian documents from the National Register – with two children in
Verona, and is working as a captain with the Italian carrier Meridiana.
According to his father he had a yearly income of some $60.000. As of today it
seems less likely that he has ever been piloting aircrafts for Meridiana or any
other passenger carrier as he is struggling with a mental problem, and has no updated medical certificates
since 1997. His income becomes thus important in regards to his economical
status. If this person should appear with a fortune not corresponding to his
income, something is wrong and needs to be checked. Italian authorities have,
by the way, refused to answer upon my request on Mr. Riis’ status as a pilot.
If what
the Riis-family told me in 1997 was the truth, then they wouldn’t appear with
any additional estates/fortune besides the known ones in Norway and Italy. On
the other hand, if the family were found to be well off, although they have
almost no income, this could indicate involvement in some profitable criminal
business and there would be a reason to have a closer look on their
whereabouts. As mentioned before, I have solid information that the Riis-family
were involved in arms dealing, not only from Riis’ Italian Director, but also
from concealed company files. I had thus a reason to check this family, and
this is what I found in regards to Mr. Kenneth Patrizio Riis’ wealth in USA:
Mr.
Kenneth Patrizio Riis owns real estates in downtown Miami, Florida; Fort Worth, Texas, New York City, and in San Francisco. As you will observe, this is the same Kenneth Patrizio Riis as proclaimed to be the son
of the late Consul Riis. Here are some pictures from the addresses:
Miami Down
town : Box 111721, MIAMI, FL 33111.
New York : 250 W 50TH ST, New York, NY 10019 (not confirmed).
Fort Worth
Tex. : 2503 Park Hill CT E, Fort Worth, TX 76110.
San
Francisco : 1700 BUSH # 12, San Francisco, CA 94109.
Kenneth
Patrizio Riis is also connected to several other real estates in the USA as
well as in Canada. Due to further investigation we cannot reveal these
addresses yet. In addition to this Mr. Patrizio Riis owns estates at:
Verona,
Italy : Viale Andrea Palladio,
10, 37138 Verona.
Sardinia : unknown address as of yet.
The
estimated value of the estates is under investigation, but it surely amounts to
several million dollars, far above Mr. Kenneth Patrizio Riis’ economical means.
* * *
By the result
of this investigation it becomes quite irrelevant whether Mr. Patrizio Riis has
been working for Meridiana or not, as it seems pretty clear the he would never
have had the means (with an Italian airline captain salary) to buy even one of
these estates in the US in addition to his expensive homes in Verona and
Sardinia.
Arms
dealers are supposed to answer to the prosecuting and judging authority in any
countries as soon as there are evidences on such crimes. In this regard we are
not talking about the arms dealing in particular, but rather about the consequences of their cruel business;
war crimes, crimes against the humanity, torture, etc., crimes where no
statutes of limitation are running.
Again I
urge the responsible authority in the USA, Norway and Italy to act according to
law and according to what is expected from a responsible Government and
investigate this case from the base that I have unveiled for them.
Herman J Berge
Luxembourg
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