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PEOPLE Denmark

Liberia wants Brügger extradited but hasn't told Denmark yet

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- "We are certainly waiting in suspense", said Danish producer Peter Engel, of Zentropa Real, who has not yet had any official Liberian reaction to The Ambassador documentary

Danish producer Peter Engel, of Denmark's Zentropa Entertainments, is taking in his stride the fact that Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called for the extradition of Danish director Mads Brügger (photo), because he allegedly used a fake diplomat title when filming his award-winning documentary The Ambassador (2011) in Liberia.

"Mr Cortzen is an impostor, a criminal – we will pursue him, and we will get him down here to face legal procedures by any means possible," Sirleaf told Frontpage Africa. She added that she would go after "the advisory services issuing forged documents in the names of Liberia and other African states".

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In the film, Brügger is using a diplomatic passport – as Consul General and Ambassador-at-Large to the Central African Republic – which he bought for $150,000; he claimed he was in the former French colony to open a factory for matches made by Pygmies, while everybody thought he was after diamonds.

"However, neither the Danish Foreign Ministry, the director nor we have heard anything from Liberia, more than six weeks after the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism announced it would take legal action, but we are certainly waiting in suspense," said Engel.

Meanwhile, Liberia's National Press Association has encouraged local authorities to look into the participation of Liberian citizens in the fraud instead of hunting Brügger "to remove suspicions that these are only deceptive tactics to shift focus from crimes within their own ranks".

Most recently (August 29) Dr Toga Gayewea McIntosh, Liberia's former foreign minister whom Brügger claims was involved, issued a 1,700-word declaration, in which he asserted his innocence. "These are the few words I have to say on the matter," he declared.

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