Wirecard critics targeted in London spy operation Former Libyan intelligence chief oversaw surveillance of investors including Crispin Odey
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/d94c938e-1a84-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4
Paul Murphy – December 11, 2019
A former Libyan intelligence chief, who told associates he is a shareholder in German payments group Wirecard, funded a surveillance operation in London that targeted a string of investors including hedge fund manager Crispin Odey.
Rami El Obeidi, head of foreign intelligence in Libya’s National Transition Council, which governed the country temporarily in the wake of Muammer Gaddafi’s death in 2011, was hunting for evidence that market speculators were attempting to manipulate Wirecard shares, according to two people familiar with the operation.
He retained the services of two security companies: Sloane Risk Group in London, run by a former British counter-terrorism operative Hayley Elvins, and APG Protection, a Manchester-based firm run by a former special forces soldier Greg Raynor, according to a briefing document outlining the surveillance operation.
Sloane and APG then oversaw an operation codenamed “Palldium Phase 2”, using the services of 28 individual private investigators, the sources said. A surveillance team monitored at least eight men in total, according to the briefing document and photographs dated between October 23 and November 3 this year, which were obtained by the Financial Times.
Wirecard has denied any involvement in such surveillance. The Munich-based technology group, a member of the prestigious Dax 30 index of Germany’s largest companies, has long portrayed critics of its accounts and governance as criminals trying to manipulate its share price, in collusion with the media.
See full story at https://www.ft.com/content/d94c938e-1a84-11ea-97df-cc63de1d73f4
NOTE: From the Article:
Eavesdropping is illegal in Germany, unless carried out by the state, part of strict privacy laws shaped by the country’s experience of secret police activity in former East Germany.