Erinys International

Erinys International Ltd is a security company specialising in providing security guards in conflict zones including armed personnel. It has subsidiaries in a number of countries including Erinys Iraq, Erinys (UK) Ltd and Erinys South Africa. Erinys International was founded in February 2002 by Jonathan Garratt, a former British army officer and South African residentBonny Schoonakker 'SA company to protect Iraqi oil', Sunday Times (South Africa) December 7, 2003, Economy, Business & Finance; Pg. 5 and Fraser Brown, also ex British Army.Erinys Company Overview - Management Profiles, accessed 12 April 2008.Peter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28. 
The firm's management has included:
*Major-General John Holmes, the former head of 22 SAS and between 1999 and 2001 Director Special ForcesErinys, Management, Formerly hosted at <http://www.erinysinternational.com/CompanyOverview-ManagementProfiles.asp?Corporate> retrieved from the Internet Archive dated 6 April 2008 on 1 October 2009Antony Barnett & Patrick Smith, British guard firm ‘abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy’, The Observer, November 14, 2004.
*Alastair Morrison formerly second in command of 22 SAS,Exploration Logistics Alastair Morrison OBE MC: Non-executive Chairman, accessed 1 October 2009 was founder and chairman of Defence Systems LimitedMichael Sean Gillard And Melissa Jones 'Inside Story: BP's Secret Military Advisers', The Guardian (London) June 30, 1997, Pg. T8. He joined the board of Erinys International in January 2004 and left in April 2004 to join Kroll. He joined the Erinys Board again as non-executive Chairman in December 2008.Erinys Management, accessed 1 October 2009
*From August 2002 until November 2003, the non-executive chairman was Sean Cleary, a former South African military intelligence and diplomatic operative (in the 1960s and 1970s) who previously ran pro-Apartheid lobbying and propaganda operations between the 1980s and the fall of Apartheid in 1994). Although not formally on the board of Erinys International, Cleary was given the title of non-executive chairman and was on the board of Erinys South AfricaPeter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28.
==History of Erinys==
The company is headquartered in Dubai and registered in the British Virgin Islands. It has subsidiaries in South Africa, the UK, and Iraq.
The company has a strong link with South Africa and has often been reported as being South African. The name Erinys was first used in the formation of Erinys South Africa on 19 July 2001.Certificate Issued by the Registrar of Companies and Close Corporations on Thursday, September 22, 2005 01:33 Certificate of Confirmation, CM26 According to the South Africa-based Sunday Times, in December 2003, Erinys was headquartered in Johannesburg and directed by South Africans:
:Information lodged with the DTI in Pretoria shows that the company... is steered by South Africans. Garratt is identified as a resident of the Dainfern housing estate near Midrand and has a South African ID number indicating his age as 41. Other directors of Erinys include Christian Gouws of Menlo Park, Pretoria, and Sean Michael Cleary of Constantia, Cape Town. A fourth director, Alastair Morrison, is listed as living in France. Garratt's assistant said Gouws and Cleary had resigned from the company, but their departures were not reflected in the latest data from the DTI.Bonny Schoonakker 'SA company to protect Iraqi oil', Sunday Times (South Africa) December 7, 2003, Economy, Business & Finance; Pg. 5
Peter W. Roberts, corporate counsel to Erinys International, comments that Gouws
:is not shown in the first (2002) accounts of the company.Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', Erinys Africa financial statement, year ended 31 Dec 2002, document emailed to Spinprofiles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs I have no idea who Christian Gouws is/was and assume that he set up the original shelf company, which he then sold to the founders of Erinys. He was never a director of the ‘operational’ Erinys.Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', document emailed to Spinprofiles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs
Peter W. Roberts states that Gouws was not a director at the end of 2003 when the Sunday Times article appeared.Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', document emailed to Spinprofiles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs 
Erinys International was registered on 25 February 2002. The company has, though, been keen to counter the impression that it is South African and in subsequent statements has emphasised that it is led by British directors. Erinys (UK) Ltd has an incorporation date of 20 July 2004, according to the ICC Directory of UK CompaniesErinys UK, Incorporation Date, ICC Directory of UK Companies, Accessed via Nexis UK 05-October-2009.
It has also rejected accounts that Erinys International has ever had offices in the UK noting that 'Erinys International has never had an address in the UK'. However, its own headed notepaper has in the past given the impression that Erinys International - the parent company of all of its subsidiaries - did have a London base. This stated that the 'Europe' address of Erinys International was 58 Grosvenor Street London W1K 4QN.Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, undated, but presumably in 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
===Military and mercenary backgrounds===
It is clear that most of those who became involved in the various Erinys projects had worked together in one capacity or another either in the SAS, in other special forces regiments, or, most notably, in a variety of Private Military Corporations. Africa Energy Intelligence reports that:
:Several of the group's executives have long experience of the [African] continent. Among them are Jonathan Garratt, the CEO and founder of Erinys group who supervised the operations of the defunct security firm Defence Systems Limited (DSL) in Kinshasa for a number of years, and Fraser Brown, Peter Roberts and Jonathan Eldridge. The latter three all worked in the past for ArmorGroup in Africa.Africa Energy Intelligence January 25, 2006 Richard Mac Namee SECTION: WHO'S WHO No. 409
Africa Energy Intelligence also noted:
:The boss of Kroll Security International is Alastair Morrison, founder of the security firm Defence Systems Ltd. and former shareholder in Erinys, the group that won a contract in August, 2003 to secure oil sites and pipelines in Iraq. Morrison has since sold his shares in Erinys which is managed by two of his former partners in DSL, Fraser Brown and Jonathan Garratt.Africa Energy Intelligence, November 17, 2004, Private Security for Pipelines? SECTION: SPOTLIGHT; N. 381
According to Corpwatch:
:Alastair Morrison was co-founder and CEO of Defence Systems from 1981 to 1999. Morrison is currently affiliated with Armor Holdings, in which he holds $2.1 million worth of stock. Fraser Brown, who directs Erinys' security operations, has worked for DSL/Armor since 1999. Jonathan Garratt, Erinys' managing director, has worked for DSL and Armor since 1992. The two other Erinys officials named on the website have no apparent ties to either company: Sean Cleary is a South African risk management expert while Bill Elder previously worked as Bechtel's corporate security manager.Guarding the Oil Underworld in Iraq by Jim Vallette and Pratap Chatterjee, Special to CorpWatch, September 5th, 2003, accessed 1 October 2009
Although it is widely reported that Sean Cleary was amongst the founders of Erinys International,Andy Clarno & Salim Vally, Privatised War: The South African Connection, ZNet, March 6, 2005 in fact he joined the company shortly after it was founded, though it was at this stage very much a start-up. The idea that he was a founder may have been encouraged by Cleary's own account in which he referred to a 'merger' between a company he directed (Strategic Concepts) and Erinys International. Cleary referred to the creation of 'a potentially larger risk management advisory business, incorporating *business* (intelligence and investigative), *environment* and *physical *risk advisory services, and growing the *socio-political* risk component (already offered by Strategic) through better marketing'.Sean Cleary 'Email to David Isenberg'
Erinys's own account, as published in the Sunday Independent as a rebuttal to an article published in that newspaper on March 6 2005, states:
:[Erinys] was not, as the [Sunday Independent] article stated, founded by Sean Cleary. In May 2002, Erinys acquired Strategic Concepts, a company managed by Cleary. His association with Erinys ended in November 2003.Role of guards in the rebuilding of Iraq is not the role of mercenaries, Published on the web by Sunday Independent (South Africa) on March 20, 2005
==Iraq==
Erinys Iraq was formed in May 2003 and the Oil Protection Force (OPF) contract was awarded to it by the Coalition Provisional Authority on 5 August 2003.Peter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28.
According to Stephen Armstrong, writing in 2008, 'Erinys has more men in Iraq than the British army'Stephen Armstrong (2008), War PLC: The rise of the new corporate mercenary, London: Faber, p. 251 . To exploit crucial contacts in the new Iraqi Governing Council, the firm entered into a joint venture with Nour USA, a company founded by a friend of Ahmed Chalabi. Nour USA bankrolled the new enterprise. Erinys won an $80 million contract in 2003 to guard Iraq oil installations and according to Newsday 'an industry source familiar with some of the internal affairs said Chalabi received a $2-million fee for helping arrange the contract'. Further alarms were raised when the company started recruiting many of Chalabi's former militiamen from the Iraqi Free Forces raising concerns that he was creating a private armyKnut Royce, Start-Up Company With Connections, Newsday, February 15, 2004.Knut Royce, Start-Up Company With Connections, Newsday, February 15, 2004.
Regarding the size of the contract, Erinys International says that in August 2003 when the contract was awarded to Erinys Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, "The value of the contract (to last one year) was $39.5 million. Subsequent amendments increased the size and scope of the contract and extended it to 31st December 2004, when the OPF staff and assets were handed over to the Ministry of Oil in accordance with the terms of the contract."Peter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28.
Erinys claims that the "Joint Venture between Erinys Iraq and Nour USA only applied to the Oil Protection Force Contract (OPF) for the Ministry of Oil (MoO) – not to any other Erinys Iraq contracts – and the JV ended when the OPF contract ended at the end of December 2004"Peter Roberts, RE: Erinys Profile, E-Mail to editor@spinprofiles.org 8-October-2009.
According to reports, by February 2004, U.S. authorities in Iraq had awarded the company more than $400 million in contracts, including a $327 million deal to supply equipment for the Iraqi Armed Forces. Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay, Anointed Iraq group now probed;Exile organization faces rising inquiries, U.S. ire., The Philidelphia Inquirer,, 28-February-2004, Accessed via Nexis UK 10-September-2009United Press International, 'Report: Chalabi allies get key awards', United Press International, 20-February-2004, Accessed via Nexis UK, 10-September-2009. Erinys argues that these claims regarding the contract are false, stating:
:That contract was nothing, whatever, to do with Erinys Iraq, so the attribution to Erinys Iraq is false.Peter Roberts, RE: Erinys Profile, E-Mail to editor@spinprofiles.org 8-October-2009.
According to a report in the Washington Post, the Nour contract was formally challenged because of complaints about the bidding process. The contract was then awarded to Anham, a company described in the Post report as being only "slightly different from Nour" and as having ties to Abul Huda FaroukiJames V. Grimaldi, Iraq Arms Contract Misses Deadline, The Washington Post, 27-May-2004, Accessed 11-October-2009. Erinys went on to supply security services to AnhamPeter Roberts, RE: Erinys Profile, E-Mail to editor@spinprofiles.org 8-October-2009.
===Iraq contracts===
Contract 	Date Started	Date Ended 	
Oil Protection Force 	August 2003 	December 2004	
Gulf Regional Division	January 2004	November 2007	
AG Siemens Contract 	2007 	N/A 	
The initial Erinys contract in Iraq was the Oil Protection Force (OPF) contract. This contract was active from August 2003 until December 2004 when responsibility for guarding the oil pipelines was handed over to the Iraqi governmentCase Studies, The Erinys Oil Protection Force, Erinys International, Accessed 08-October-2009. Erinys also had a contract to provide "security and support services to the US Army Corps of Engineers" in the Gulf Region Division (GRD). The contract ran from the formation of the GRD in January 2004 until November 2007Case Studies, Erinys Nationwide Security Support to GRD, Erinys International, Accessed 08-October-2009. Erinys also had a contract in 2007 to provide support to AG Siemens, which was in Iraq to "repair and refurbish several power generating plants across Iraq"Case Studies, Risk Assessment, Transit and Static Site Security and Support Services for Siemens in Iraq, Erinys International, Accessed 08-Octber-2009.
===Ahmed Chalabi connection===
The New Yorker's Jayne Mayer reported on the connections between Ahmed Chalabi's friend and Erinys. She writes:
:Several of Chalabi’s friends have been awarded lucrative contracts. Abdul Huda Farouki, a Jordanian-American businessman who lives outside Washington, D.C., has obtained big stakes in two companies, Nour USA and Erinys Iraq, that will be paid millions of dollars to supply the Iraqi Army and to secure the country’s oil infrastructure. Farouki became a friend of Chalabi’s when he took out twelve million dollars in loans from Petra BankJayne Mayer, The Manipulator, The New Yorker, 7-June-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009. 
Writing for The Guardian Suzanne Goldberg notes:
:The first recruits of the 14,000-strong oil protection force raised by Erinys Iraq were members of the Iraqi Free Forces, the US-trained militia that was headed by Ahmed Chalabi, an Iraqi exile who was America's protege in the run-up to the invasion. Members of Mr Chalabi's inner circle were among the founding partners of Erinys IraqSuzanne Goldberg, US soldier's family brings legal action against British private security firm, The Guardian, 30-October-2007, Accessed 05-October-2009. 
According to reports, Nour USA provided the initial funding for Erinys Iraq. Nour's funder was a friend and business associate of Ahmed Chalabi, Abul Huda Farouki. Nour USA were the key beneficiary of both the oil security contract and the Iraq army procurement contract. Nour is a joint venture partner with Erinys and the Erinys security contract was amended to include NourSouthscan, Pretoria Digs Itself Deeper Into a Hole On Iraq Security, Africa News, 20-February-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009. According to Africa News "founding partner and director of Erinys Iraq is Faisal Daghistani, the son of Tamara Daghistani, for years one of Chalabi's most trusted confidantes"Southscan, Pretoria Digs Itself Deeper Into a Hole On Iraq Security, Africa News, 20-February-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009. 
Africa News reported in 2004 that the firm's legal representative in Baghdad is Chalabi's nephew Salem ChalabiSouthscan, Pretoria Digs Itself Deeper Into a Hole On Iraq Security, Africa News, 20-February-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009. Erinys denies that Salem Chalabi acted as its legal representative, saying: 
:Salem Chalabi is not and never was, Erinys Iraq’s legal representative in Baghdad. I am advised that in the early days of 2003, the Erinys MD contacted Clifford Chance to provide legal advice in Baghdad and they sent Salem Chalabi to the office. As the CFO I was also responsible for legal affairs and I certainly never met Salem Chalabi and I appointed an Iraqi lawyer, Auss Muthefer Younis, to provide legal services to Erinys Iraq from early in 2004. In 2008 the current Iraq management appointed Hadeel A. Hassan to provide legal services"Peter Roberts, counsel to Erinys, RE: Erinys Profile, E-Mail to editor@spinprofiles.org 8-October-2009.
Mark Perlman writes of the controversial connections between Erinys and Ahmed Chalabi:
:In addition to fueling criticism over the lack of transparency of the bidding process in Iraq, the contract has also ignited political infighting in Baghdad between two key U.S. allies. The leader of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile group with close links to the CIA, has accused one of his main rivals of orchestrating the deal for his own purposes. Iyad Allawi told the Financial Times last December that Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress, had engineered the Erinys contract in order to set up a private militia that would end up undermining central authority over the vital oil sectorMark Perlman, Apartheid Enforcers Guard Iraq For the U.S., The Jewish Daily Forward, 20-February-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009.
Erinys contests several aspects of the reported connections between itself, Nour USA and Ahmed Chalabi. According to Peter Roberts, legal counsel to Erinys:
:I am aware that there is a belief that A. Chalabi was somehow instrumental in obtaining the contract (and that he was paid $2 million), but the link with Nour USA was formed after the award of the contract and it is unclear to me:
:*how the Iraqi Governing Council might have been involved in the contract award which was factually made by the Coalition Provisional Authority and
:*who might have paid Chalabi $2 million, since Erinys did not have that sort of money at that time
:However, beyond saying that Knut Royce (and others) was wrong, I cannot deny that they said it, so, as long as the allegation is in reported speech, it is admissible.Peter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28.
===Nour USA===
In 2003 a report in the National Journal shed some light on the relationship between Nour USA and Erinys. The report said:
:The company's [Nour USA] managing director, David Braus, said the Cohen Group was hired to help identify relevant American government contacts for winning business in Iraq. The Cohen Group "introduced us to people in the U.S. government who were involved in oil-industry security," Braus said. At the Cohen Group, Christine Vick and Paul Gebhard are leading the work for Nour. 
:As for Erinys Iraq, Braus said the firm is made up of joint-venture companies, Iraqi expatriates, and Iraqis who lived under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. It now employs about 100 people in its Baghdad headquarters, but expects to have as many as 10,000 employees throughout Iraq by the end of this year. Braus added that the Cohen Group has also been trying to help Nour, which has a partnership with MCI and other companies, win a big mobile telephone contract in Baghdad that the provisional authority is expected to award soonPeter H, Cohen Group Helps Client in Iraq, The National Journal, 06-September-2003, Accessed 05-October-2009.
===Guarding oilfields with Kurdish fighters and South African supervisors?===
Erinys ran the second largest training scheme in Iraq to create a private army guarding the oil pipelines and refineries.Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq Inc, Seven Stories Press, 2004, p. 116 In addition to its British and South African employees, Erinys hired and trained about 14,000 Iraqis.Alan Bryden and Marina Caparini, (2007), Private Actors and Security Governance, Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (Dcaf), PP155, Accessed 10-September-2009 According to Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch, these jobs were 'technically open to all Iraqis', but those guarding the oil refinery checkpoint in Kirkuk with whom Chatterjee spoke 'estimated 95 per cent were peshmerga'.Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq Inc, Seven Stories Press, 2004, p. 117Jen Banbury, Angry with the U.S. for betraying their dream of independence, the Kurds could ignite an Iraqi civil war, KurdishMedia, 22-July-2004, Accessed 10-September-2009 Peshmerga means 'ready to die' in Kurdish and they fought Saddam Hussein with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. According to Chatterjee part of the reason for this is that 'the occupation forces don't trust Arabs'.Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq Inc, Seven Stories Press, 2004, p. 118 The top wage for the Kurds, according to Chatterjee, was $120 per month, whereas their supervisors, 'many of whom are South African' earn $5,000 a month on average.Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq Inc, Seven Stories Press, 2004, p. 118
==='Plunder of Iraqi Oil'===
Erinys has objected to the implication made by War on Want that it has been involved in the 'plunder of Iraqi oil'. Fabien Mathieu and Nick Dearden Corporate Mercenaries: The threat of private military and security companies Published November 2006, London: War on Want, Supported by the Campaign Against The Arms Trade In its response the company stated:
:Allegation made by WoW: WoW invited demonstrators to hold a protest outside the offices of companies working in Iraq, including Erinys’ offices, to campaign against the "plunder of Iraqi oil". The clear allegation is that Erinys is complicit in this plunder. 
 
:Fact: The only involvement of Erinys in oil in Iraq was to train and manage an Oil Protection Force of up to 17,500 Iraqis under a contract with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil to protect Iraq’s oil installations from attack. Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, undated, but presumably in 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
The presentation of an 'Allegation' followed by a 'Fact' here would seem to imply either (a) that War on Want had alleged a greater involvement in the 'plunder of Iraqi oil' than the securing of oil fields (which it did not), or (b) that the Oil Protection Force contract cannot itself amount to being 'complicit in this plunder'. On the latter point, Erinys was appointed to guard Iraqi oil by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the unelected body which governed Iraq after the illegal invasion of the country. It is indeed arguable therefore that Erinys is 'complicit in this plunder' since it secured Iraq's oil fields whilst the US and multinational oil corporations pushed for access. For more background on the oil industry and Iraq see Global Policy Forum, Oil In Iraq and Hands Off Iraqi Oil
===Incident involving 16-year-old boy in May 2004===
The firm also drew criticism from Amnesty International after the Observer reported obtaining photos that showed Erinys employees restraining a 16-year-old Iraqi boy 'with six car tyres around his body': 
:Pictures obtained by The Observer show two employees of Erinys restraining the 16-year-old Iraqi with six car tyres around his body. The photographs, taken last May, show the boy frozen with fear in a room where the wall appeared to be marked by bullet holes. This newspaper was told he was left immobile and without food or water for more than 24 hours. The firm has denied the boy - arrested for stealing a length of cable - was brutally treated. It claimed he was released without harm within minutes.Anthony Barnett, British guard firm 'abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy', The Guardian, 14-November-2004, Accessed 10-September-2009 
The Guardian also reported the denials by Erinys about the incident:
:A statement released yesterday by Erinys said: 'This process lasted for approximately three minutes, when the youth broke down in tears, at which point the tyres were immediately removed and the individual released into the custody of his father.'
:Erinys says the arrest took place last May at the Kirkuk Sector Patrol Base near the K1 gate of the Northern Oil Company compound. A company spokesman claimed the boy was a shepherd arrested by Erinys's pipeline patrol for allegedly stealing newly-laid cable. The company sent a vehicle to collect his father.
:The statement said: 'On learning of the circumstances leading to the arrest of his son, the father expressed shame at his son's activities and requested that he be taught a lesson. In the presence of his father, two Erinys employees restrained the youth using tyres.'
:The company claims the picture was taken not to brag but to prove 'there was no injury to the individual - no bruising, no bleeding, no torn clothing'.Anthony Barnett, British guard firm 'abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy', The Guardian, 14-November-2004, Accessed 10-September-2009
Amnesty International said the pictures were 'disturbing' and called for private firms in Iraq to be regulated and monitored.Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith, British guard firm 'abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy', The Observer, 14 Nov 2004, accessed 4 Nov 2009
The Observer also alleged that Erinys was detaining suspects in holding cells in Kirkuk:
:A source with knowledge of Erinys' operations in Iraq claimed the firm, which employs thousands of Iraqis, keeps suspects in a holding cell in Kirkuk.
:The company's statement said it was authorised to detain suspects and conduct investigations. It could not interrogate but could detain suspects until they were handed over to the authorities. The restraining of the boy was a 'one-off event' in the garage of the patrol base. Anthony Barnett, British guard firm 'abused scared Iraqi shepherd boy', The Guardian, 14-November-2004, Accessed 10-September-2009
When accused of 'prisoner abuse' by War on Want Erinys insisted 'Erinys has never been involved with holding prisoners in Iraq'. But its own statement admits that it has held people in detention:
:The Erinys Oil Protection Force was authorised by the government to detain suspects and conduct investigations. Such investigations did not include interrogation but may have included detention until hand over to the police or coalition forces.
Perhaps there is a difference between 'detention' and being a 'prisoner', but it is not easy to understand what the difference is since those detained are not at liberty to leave.
===Legal action over death of US soldier in 2005===
In October 2007 Reuters reported a legal action against Erinys was launched in both Texas and London:
:A British private security company is being sued in the United States over the death of a U.S. soldier hit by one of its convoys in Iraq, according to court documents... The case against Erinys, filed in a court in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday and also in London, was brought by the Perry Monroe, father of Christopher Monroe, a U.S. soldier who was struck by an Erinys vehicle while on duty in southern Iraq in October 2005.
:The lawsuit accuses the Erinys convoy of ignoring warnings and travelling at excessive speed after dark without lights fully on, leading to an accident in which Monroe was hit, suffering severe injuries that led to his death.
:"Even though warned that the remainder of the U.S. convoy was ahead, the Erinys PSD team employee with reckless disregard accelerated to a high rate of speed and struck Christopher with his armoured Suburban [vehicle], tearing off his right leg.
:"Mr Monroe has been compelled to file this lawsuit to require the Erinys PSD team to account for its action that led to the death of his 19-year-old son," reads the suit, which also seeks unspecified damages.
:Erinys, which provided security to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the time of the incident, denied any wrongdoing... The case filed in Houston is the first time that a private security company has been accused of negligence in the case of the death of a U.S. soldier, lawyers said.Luke Baker 'British security co. sued over death of US soldier' Reuters, Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:15am EDT
Erinys evidently don't like this story to be repeated because when War on Want alluded to it simply by stating 'Erinys is also being sued in the US for the death of a US soldier hit by an Erinys convoy in Iraq in 2005',War on Want 'Stop mercenaries abuse' call 03 December 2007 Miliband pressed on regulation EMBARGO: 00.01 hrs GMT, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 Erinys complained:
:2nd Allegation made by WoW: “Erinys is also being sued in the US for the death of a US soldier hit by an Erinys convoy in Iraq in 2005” 
 
:Fact: Reuters contacted Erinys before filing its original press report on 26 October 2007 (http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL26662748) and included a statement that “There was a full and very thorough investigation by the U.S. military into the case at the time, and both Erinys and its employees were fully exonerated”. This balance has been excised from the WoW report.Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, April 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
This response from Erinys does not contradict the statement that Erinys was being sued in the US and London. It would be unbalanced to state that Erinys was guilty without giving their view that they have done nothing wrong. But War on Want did not express any view on their guilt or otherwise. In other words Erinys is admitting that the statement is true. It is hardly 'unbalanced' to state the truth of the matter.
===Kirkuk incident 18 October 2007===
According to a report in The New York Times:
:A man lost his eye and two other people were wounded when private security contractors fired into a crowded taxi as it approached their convoy of sport utility vehicles in northern Iraq on Thursday. 
:The shootings took place when security guards working for the British company Erinys International were escorting employees of the United States Army Corps of Engineers on a highway east of Kirkuk. The guards said that a car approached “at a high rate of speed,” according to a statement issued by the Corps of Engineers. When efforts to warn it off failed, the contractors fired into the vehicle, the statement said. 
:One of the occupants of the car, who was interviewed from a hospital bed in Kirkuk, said that after they fired, the security contractors pointed their guns at the car to discourage those inside from climbing out. The guards then drove away without offering medical help, said the man, Zairak Nori Qadir, whose right eye was hit by a bullet.
:“They fired on us, and we never threatened them,” Mr. Qadir said. “They shot us and didn’t let us release ourselves from the car until they escaped and left us covered in blood.” 
:“Those are savages and criminals and killers,” he said. 
:A man who answered the phone at Erinys’s Middle East headquarters in Dubai referred questions to the Corps of Engineers. In its statement, the Army Corps said it would appoint an officer to investigate the shooting. “No further details are available at this time,” the statement said.ANDREW E. KRAMER, Security Contractors Shoot at Taxi, Wounding 3 Iraqis, New York Times, 19-October-2007, Accessed 01-October-2009 
Erinys specifically deny that the occupants of the taxis were not allowed to leave the vehicle for some time after the shooting. They state:
:I note that Mr Qadir (a passenger in the taxi) is quoted as saying that they were not allowed to leave the taxi, but this is contradicted by pictures that we have of the taxi (in front of a long line of stationary traffic) with two persons (one of whom appears to be bleeding from a head wound) sitting at the side of the road in front of the taxi. The photos also show the ambulance that arrived shortly after the incident. The Erinys vehicles left the scene after the ambulance took in the wounded passengers.Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', document emailed to Spinprofiles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs
Erinys' account of the incident in Kirkuk was given in a press release rebuttal of allegations made by War on Want. Their account of the incident is as follows:
:The Erinys team had been deployed to escort a convoy of vehicles carrying civilian employees of the US Army Corps of Engineers on a highway east of Kirkuk in Northern Iraq. When a vehicle approached the convoy at high speed the security team initiated escalation warning procedures under the rules for the use of force specified by the US Government. These rules are a legally enforceable part of contracts between security companies and the US Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq and are designed to protect convoys from attack by mobile suicide bombers. In the incident referred to above the convoy was halted to change a punctured tyre; all sirens and flashing lights were operating and all traffic was stationary and being held at a safe distance. 
:Despite the sirens and flashing lights a fast-moving taxi drove around the stationary traffic towards the convoy. The Erinys team gave the specified verbal, hand and bright light warnings to the taxi, but it did not stop. Carefully aimed disabling shots were then fired into the engine block to disable the vehicle as the penultimate stage of escalation. Regrettably, injuries were caused to the passengers by a ricochet. Before leaving the scene, the Erinys team noted that the occupants (two at their count) were being given medical assistance in a nearby ambulance. A subsequent Press Release by the US Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that the Erinys team had complied with laid-down procedures.Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, April 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
Erinys concluded that 'the incident in Kirkuk is not an example of human rights abuse but of a professional response in self-defence against a potential vehicle-borne suicide bomb.'Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, April 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
However, it is misleading to refer to the unarmed occupants of the taxi as a 'potential vehicle-borne suicide bomb' and reminiscent of the spin used by the UK and US governments to displace attention from the killing or wounding of civilians by military personnel. For example, a similar logic might describe the Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes as a 'potential suicide bomber', though in fact he was an innocent civilian.On the misinformation about De Menezes from the police see: Lana Vandenberghe Experience: I was the Jean Charles de Menezes whistleblower, The Guardian, Saturday 22 July 2006 
==Africa==
===Connections with Apartheid South Africa and white supremacist Rhodesia===
The connections between Erinys and military and intelligence operatives formerly of the Apartheid regime in South Africa have been much reported. The basis of this is as follows. First of all the Southern African connections of the founders are extensive. Most have worked in the private military industry in Africa, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some have served in the military or intelligence services of Southern African States. For example Sean Cleary had a background in military intelligence and co-founder of Erinys International Fraser Brown left the British military to sign up with the Rhodesian Light Infantry where he served for 4 years in the Para Commandos between 1975 and 1979.Erinys Company Overview - Management Profiles, accessed 12 April 2008. At the time the racist Rhodesian regime was engaged in a bitter guerrilla war with the liberation movements whose demands included ending the racist system of government which denied black people the vote. The RLI remained one of only two '"all-white" units in the armed forces until the very end of the war in 1979-80'.Kevin Douglas Stringer, Military organizations for homeland defense and smaller-scale contingencies: A comparative Approach, New York: Praeger, 2007. According to some accounts the culture of the all white RLI was deeply racist and at least some of the regiment engaged in torture. According to one memoir which recounts the experiences of 'K', a veteran of the RLI:
:This is painful listening. Starkly, Fuller relates K's confessions, particularly the torture of a young African woman. The veterans' conversations are saturated with racial slang and expletives, echoing the violence of their acts. He and his friends, said K, were not animals--they were "worse than animals."
Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier Alexandra Fuller. 2004. Read by Lisette Lecat. 7 tapes. 9.5 hrs. Recorded Books. 1-4025-8277-3.
====South African connections====
Erinys has been widely reported to be 'full of former South African special forces soldiers'.Jim Krane 'U.S. employs private armies: Missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world use freelance fighters', St. John's Telegram (Newfoundland) November 2, 2003 Sunday Final Edition, SOURCE: The Associated Press, The Big Picture; Pg. A11 In 2004 the Cleveland-based newspaper The Plain Dealer reported that 'Four Erinys employees have another speciality. Etienne Smith, Braam "Pottie" Potgieter, Conrad Blything and Cobus Brink, all South Africans, form the personal security detail for O'Donnell. They are charged with protecting his life as he oversees the pipeline.'Chuck Yarborough, Plain Dealer Reporter 'Struggling with security', Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio),February 15, 2004 Sunday, Sports Final / All, Correction Appended, NATIONAL; Pg. A1
 In 2005 a PBS journalist went on patrol with an Erinys team and observed that 'Most of them are South Africans, with thick accents.'Baghdad from a Bulletproof Window by Marcela Gaviria "Private Warriors" producer Marcela Gaviria describes her April 2005 trip to Baghdad and how it compared to her two previous trips to Iraq. Frontline, PBS, 21 June 2005
Africa Confidential estimates that there may be as many as 1,000 former members of the South African security forces in Iraq at presentAdrian Guelke, Iraq’s Mercenary Armies, Fortnight, Accessed 01-October-2009 UPI reports that '1,500 South Africans also serve in Iraq'United Press International 'UPI Hears ...' April 1, 2004 Thursday Jonathan Manthorpe of the Ottawa Citizen reports that there are '1,500 South Africans, most of them white remnants of the apartheid regime, working for security companies in Iraq.'Jonathan Manthorpe, Ottawa Citizen 'Modern warfare: The freelance soldier', Niagara Falls Review (Ontario), May 17, 2004 Monday, Final Edition, OPINION; Pg. A4. In an interview with PBS, Andy Melville of Erinys explained how he had "probably about 120 South Africans", working for himAndy Melville, Interview Andy Melville, PBS, 21-April-2005, Accessed 28-October-2009. Between June and August 2006 Erinys made 111 of their South African staff redundant due to the implementation of new anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa. John Holmes, a director at Erinys, said: "Altogether 111 [South Africans] were made redundant due to the pending legislation ... We felt we had to do it early on so there would be no short notice change-around when the law comes into effect. They were hugely disappointed, and so were weRowan Philip, Bill sounds last post for SA security men in Iraq, Sunday Times (South Africa), 06-August-2006, Accessed 28-October-2009."
Erinys is understandably sensitive about allegations of its connections with South African paramilitaries formerly working for the Apartheid regime. Peter Roberts of Erinys writes:
:There were never more than fifty expatriates employed on the OPF contract (not ‘thousands’). In fact the contract required forty, but more were needed to provide management expertise. The maximum number of expatriates employed by Erinys Iraq (under the OPF, USACE and other contracts) was probably about 400. They were not exclusively British and South Africa and in 2005 I noted 21 different nationalities in the expatriate workforce.Peter Roberts 'Comments on Article and Reasons for Amendment', modified 9 September 10:26, attached to Peter Roberts 'Re: Application for User Status', email to editor@spinprofiles, 9 September 2009, 11:28.
No doubt there were a variety of nationalities working for Erinys, but this statement does not deny that significant numbers of South Africans worked for Erinys in Iraq. How many of them had been involved in Apartheid intelligence, special forces and paramilitary operations is still unknown.
====South African paramilitary connections====
Operatives working on contract for Erinys (albeit through subcontractors Security Applications Systems InternationalNeil Mackay 'Private contractors were implicated in the abuse scandal and some reports even suggest they supervised interrogations' The Sunday Herald, May 9, 2004, Pg. 15) have had connections with South African Apartheid era paramilitary forces. News reports suggest that 'A former policeman from Pretoria and five other South Africans who worked for a company [Erinys] that provides security services to US civilians in Iraq were wounded in a suicide bombing in January.'Agence France Presse 'Another South African dies in Iraq, government renews warning ATTENTION - ADDS deputy FM's quotes, background' SECTION: International News, English, April 30, 2004 Friday
Francois Strydom was a South African recruit to SASI, a subcontractor to Erinys. Strydom was killed in a bombing incident in Baghdad on January 28 2004. An article for ZNet reported that Strydom was a former member of Koevoet, the South African apartheid-era paramilitary police unit, notorious for acts of violence, torture and murder.Andy Clarno & Salim Vally, Privatised War: The South African Connection, ZNet, March 6, 2005 This 'counter-insurgency' unit also waged a dirty war against Namibian rebels 'that left few prisoners'. Pacific News Service, Hired Guns in Iraq May Have War Crimes Pasts, New America Media, 03-May-2004, Accessed 28-September-2009 A recruit to the same Erinys subcontractor, SASI, who was also injured in the bombing was Deon Gouws, a former member of the South African Security Branch and the notorious Vlakplaas death squad. In 1996, Gouws had received an amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after admitting to acts of petrol bombings, arson, car bombings and murder. These included:
*between 40 to 60 petrol bombings of the homes of political activists;
*a car bombing in 1986 that killed an ANC activist;
*an arson attack on the home of a doctor who was later assassinated by a Security Branch death squad;
*the deaths of at least nine recruits to the military wing of the ANC who were shot and their bodies burned; and
*the extra-judicial murder of five would-be bank robbers who were lured into a trap by the Vlakplaas.Neil Mackay 'Private contractors were implicated in the abuse scandal and some reports even suggest they supervised interrogations' The Sunday Herald, May 9, 2004, Pg. 15
*Involvement in the 1986 murder of regional minister and opposition leader Piet NtuliMark Perlman, Apartheid Enforcers Guard Iraq For the U.S., The Jewish Daily Forward, 20-February-2004, Accessed 05-October-2009.
According to a report for the Pacific News Service, 'There are an estimated 1,500 South Africans employed by security contractors in Iraq, according to the South African foreign ministry. Many used their backgrounds as mercenaries during Apartheid to bolster their credentials.'Louis Nevaer 'Hired Guns in Iraq May Have War Crimes Pasts', Pacific News Service, New America Media, 03-May-2004, Accessed 28-September-2009
Erinys has objected to accounts, such as that of War on Want,Fabien Mathieu and Nick Dearden, Corporate Mercenaries: The threat of private military and security companies, Published November 2006, London: War on Want, Supported by the Campaign Against The Arms Trade suggesting that these operatives were employees of Erinys:
:Erinys carries out detailed background checks of its prospective employees and has never employed `former apartheid-era paramilitary police and mercenaries from South Africa’. The WoW reference is to an incident in January 2004, when a subcontractor to Erinys in Iraq was found to have employed such people after failing to carry out background checks: Erinys terminated that subcontract shortly afterwards. WoW would have known this by reference to articles in the Pretoria News of 29 January 2004 which stated that the individuals were employed by a sub-contractor.Erinys Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, posted on the War on Want website, undated, but presumably in 2008, accessed 30 September 2009 
The denial here turns on the definition of 'employed'. The operatives were working for a company that was subcontracted by Erinys – SASI. They were not however, directly employed by Erinys.
====Sean Cleary====
The appointment of Sean Cleary as non-executive chairman of Erinys also connects the company to Apartheid-era intelligence and propaganda networks (albeit that his activities with Apartheid-era groups came before his time with Erinys). Cleary was a South African military intelligence operative in the 1960s and later became a south African diplomat based, among other places, in the US.Sean Cleary, Speakers: World Knowledge Forum 2002, World Knowledge Program, Accessed 10-September-2009 After leaving the diplomatic service in the 1980s Cleary set up a series of companies in London and elsewhere. Some of these were reported as being lobbying and propaganda fronts for the Apartheid regime. In addition Cleary acted as spokesperson for Jonas Savimbi of UNITA, the US and Apartheid proxy engaged in subverting the Angolan government.Elaine Windrich, Angola's War Economy: The Role of Oil and Diamonds, HNet Book Reviews, Accessed 11-September-2009 For example Cleary's company Strategy Network International was described by The Guardian as being a key part of "an extensive network of right-wing organizations linked to the South African government". According to The Guardian's investigation, the company was 'set up in the 1980s by Sean Cleary, a former South African diplomat who once served in Washington. Cleary's group spearheaded the 1989 election campaign in Namibia for pro-South African politicians running against the Namibian independence movement, Swapo': 
:Subsequent investigations in South Africa have revealed that the anti-Swapo effort was the first part of "Operation Agree," a complex secret strategy by South African military intelligence designed to preserve South African economic dominance of the southern African region. Support for Unita in Angola's elections was the second phase of "Operation Agree," according to a former intelligence officer, Nico Basson, who gave extensive testimony during the investigationVictoria Britain,ANGOLAN WAR SPAWNS COMPLEX WEB OF PROFITEERS Fierce, deadly conflict continues, Insight Guardian News Service, 5-April-1993, Accessed 11-September-2009.
According to a report in The Independent, Strategy Network International was specifically created to lobby against economic sanctions and as propagandist for Unita, the Angolan opposition group, and for the so-called 'transitional government' of Namibia set up in defiance of UN resolution 435 on Namibian independencePATRICIA WYNN DAVIES, RICHARD DOWDEN and JOHN CARLIN, The Attack on Sleaze: How apartheid regime set out to woo Tories: Patricia Wynn Davies tells the story of the firm which gave MPs a South African perspective, The Independent, 26-October-1994, Accessed 11-September-2009.
===Nigeria===
In August 2009 Erinys International announced the award of a 3-5 year contract by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The contract is to protect British diplomats in the Nigerian capital AbujaLatest News, Erinys secures British Foreign & Commonwealth Office contract award for security services in Nigeria, Erinys International, 28-August-2009, Accessed 01-October-2009. 
Erinys had a presence in Nigeria prior to securing the FCO contract. According to a report in Africa Energy Intelligence (AEI):
:In recent years the private security industry has flocked to the oil sector and particularly to Nigeria, where Britain's ArmorGroup, Control Risks Group, Erinys and Mars Omega as well as the U.S. concern Triple Canopy all have officesAEI, 'Shifting Focus to Africa; Aegis Defense Service', Africa Energy Intelligence, 05-May-2008, Accessed via Nexis UK 01-October-2009.
Another AEI report claims:
:Erinys, which carried out reconnaissance operations for Chevron on the Benin River, Dibi, Gbokoda, Omuro and Opuekeba oil fields which the American major was forced to close down in 2003 and which it partially re-opened in 2006. To facilitate its operations in the Delta, Erinys teamed up with the Nigerian concern Ibru Organization which is controlled by the family of Alex Ibru, former governor of Delta state and then interior minister in the first government of the late Sani Abacha. Now run by one of his sons, Michael Ibru, the group remains highly active in the Delta.AEI, Niger Delta a Gold Mine for Private Security Firms, 28-February-2007, African Energy Intelligence, Accessed via Nexis UK 01-October-2009.
Tim Reilly, director of energy projects at Erinys International, commenting on the firms security operations in the Niger Delta, said: 
:"We are increasingly having to move away from addressing the symptoms and begin to start addressing the causes,". Whereas security used to involve dominating or excluding security threats, Erinys advocates combining traditional physical security measures with the adoption of moral principles on, for example, human rights'Analysis, From Bad to Worse', Petroleum Economist, November 2006, Accessed via Nexis UK 01-October-2009.
===Opening offices across Africa===
Nigeria isn't the only country in Africa where Erinys have a presence. According to a 2005 article in the Indian Ocean Newsletter: 
:"It is now to open agency offices in several African countries: Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Sudan. As part of this scheme, it has just taken the former Africa chief of ArmorGroup, Jonathan Eldridge, to run its South Africa office which will oversee the company's African expansion"Indian Ocean Newsletter, 'Jonathon Eldridge', Indian Ocean Newsletter, 04-June-2005, Acccessed via Nexis UK 01-October-2009.
By October 2009 the Erinys website lists African offices in South Africa, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Erinys Locations - South Africa, accessed 3 October 2009Erinys Locations - DRC, accessed 3 October 2009Erinys Locations - Nigeria, accessed 3 October 2009
===Allegations of involvement in Ghana and elsewhere===
It has been occasionally reported that Erinys was involved in human rights abuses in Ghana and other places such as in Nigeria, Angola and Colombia. For example Pratap Chatterjee's book Iraq Inc. states:
:In August 2003, the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM), a Ghanain nonprofit released a report detailing alleged human rights abuses perpetrated by Erinys workers at an Ashanti Gold mine. It relays eyewitness accounts of Ashanti Gold security personnel torturing, beating, and killing local small scale miners between 1994 and 2002. WACAMK further alleges that corporate security used guard dogs to feed on trespassers.Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq Inc, Seven Stories Press, 2004, p. 119Jim Vallette and Pratap Chatterjee, Guarding the Oil Underworld in Iraq, Corpwatch, 5-September-2003, Received as attachment to: Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13.
These allegations are echoed by Richard Giragosian in the Asia Times who writes that Erinys and its staff 
:have been further plagued by a series of questions over its security work in the Niger Delta and Angola, its role in protecting the British Petroleum pipeline in Colombia, and have been subjected to allegations of human rights violations at the Ashanti gold mine in Ghana.Richard Giragosian, Targeting weak points: Iraq's oil pipelines, Asia Times, 27-January-2004.
Obviously Erinys could not have been implicated in any of these events before the firm was founded in 2001/2. In addition it can be noted that Erinys has specifically stated in an apology published by the South African Sunday Independent in 2005 that 'it has not conducted any activities or provided services to Ashanti, nor has it done any work in Ghana.''For the record' Sunday Independent, March 27, 2005. 
Erinys also state that they have not been involved at all in Colombia and have had only one contract in each of Angola and Nigeria (as at 2009):
:The only contract that Erinys has had in the Niger Delta was a consultancy project (ie it did not involve provision of security guards) and is detailed as a Case Study on the Erinys website at: http://www.erinys.net/#/case8-niger/4535132936. Erinys has never had any operations in Angola, except for a market research study on the beer market for an SA client, which was carried out using a third party in Angola. Erinys has never had any operations or contracts in any part of South or Central America.Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13
In the case of Ghana the original source detailing human rights abuses by Ashanti security staff does not mention Erinys as the company involved.Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) Annual Report 2003 Prepared by Hannah Owusu-Koranteng, Director of Training and Research, JANUARY 2004 Erinys had not been created until the very end of the period covered by the report. On the other hand, ArmorGroup for which many of the senior figures in Erinys previously worked, has been employed by AngloGold Ashanti in Ghana, according to some reports.'Taking control beyond borders', Mining Magazine August 2007, SECTION: MANAGEMENT IN ACTION - MINE SECURITY; Pg. 34
In the case of Colombia, it seems likely that Erinys has - at some point - been confused with Defence Systems Limited, the company which was taken over by ArmorGroup in 1997. Most of the senior management of Erinys formerly worked for DSL/Armor. DSL ran the security for the Ocensa pipeline in Colombia and was implicated in significant human rights abuses there.
According to an investigation carried out jointly by the Guardian and the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, confidential documents in the Guardian's possession reveal that:
:Ocensa bought and supplied military equipment to a Colombian army brigade protecting its pipeline that has been implicated in two massacres by rightwing death squads under its control during the civil war. Talks on the arms deal began soon after one well-publicised massacre of 14 people, including women and children. The chief security officer for BP and Ocensa discussed arming the brigade with attack helicopters and guns.
:Ocensa security, run by the British-based security company Defence Systems Limited (DSL), proposed setting up a "psychological warfare" training course for internal security staff made up of former Colombian army officers. DSL and its ex-SAS soldiers were brought to Colombia by BP to protect its pounds 25 billion oil fields in the east and the 500-mile Ocensa pipeline that carries the crude oil to the Caribbean coast for export to the United States. Oil installations in Colombia are a military target for leftwing guerrillas, and BP receives protection from the Colombian military. But in the past two years British non-governmental organisations have repeatedly raised concerns with BP about its secret protection agreements with Colombian security forces - among the world's worst human rights abusers - and with international corporate mercenaries.
The Guardian and El Espectador investigation also found that:
:While these talks were taking place Ocensa security ran a well-financed spying operation in the local community using paid informants, according to a former security official. The information was passed to counter-guerrilla brigades protecting the pipeline. 
:DSL employs a former Colombian army officer, Major General Herman Guzman Rodriguez, whose name appears in the Black Book of Colombian State Terrorism compiled by international human rights lawyers. The book says there is "abundant evidence and testimony" linking Gen Guzman Rodriguez to a paramilitary group responsible for 149 murders in 1987 90. He denies the allegations, which have never been investigated.Michael Gillard, Ignacio Gomez and Melissa Jones BP sacks security chief over arms deal; Inquiry into arms and spy scandal The Guardian (London) October 17, 1998 The Guardian Home Page; Pg. 1
==Joint ventures and subcontractors==
===Working with Airscan, manufacturer of drones===
According to a report from global security.org:
:The contract for aerial surveillance granted in December 2003 was awarded to Erinys Iraq, which awarded a subcontract to Florida-based AirScan Inc for aerial surveillance of the pipelines in support of Erinys. AirScan provides night air surveillance of the pipeline and oil infrastructure, using low-light television camerasIntelligence, Facility Protection Service (FPS) Facilities Protection Forces, Globalsecurity.org, Accessed 01-October-2009.
==Lobbying and political connections==
Erinys has been active in lobby groups set up to pursue the interests of the private military industry.
===International Peace Operations Association ===
Erinys was reported in 2005 to be members of the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA)BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND LOBBYING No. 514, Military Firms Defend their Turf, Intelligence Online, 23-December-2005, Accessed via Nexis UK 28-October-2009. According to the IPOA website Erinys is no longer listed as a member companyIPOA, Member Companies, International Peace Operations Association, Accessed 28-October-2009. Current member companies include ArmorGroup and DynCorp InternationalIPOA, Member Companies, International Peace Operations Association, Accessed 28-October-2009.
IPOA is a lobby group representing many Private Military Contractors. The group employs Alexander Strategy Group to deal with its public relations operations in WashingtonBUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND LOBBYING No. 514, Military Firms Defend their Turf, Intelligence Online, 23-December-2005, Accessed via Nexis UK 28-October-2009.
===British Association of Private Security Companies===
Erinys announced their intention to withdraw from the British Association of Private Security Companies in January 2009. They cited their reason for leaving as being that they were withdrawing form the organisation awaiting the UK government makes a clear statement regarding the regulatory framework for private security companies. 
==Managing Erinys' public profile==
Erinys has been active in attempting to manage its reputation by threatening legal proceedings against or sending rebuttal letters to a wide variety of news outlets and some non-governmental organisations.
===List of complaints and rebuttals===
*Original Article, Mark Townsend, Iraq victims sue UK security firm, The Observer, 11-January-2009. 
:*Press Release, Erinys issues response to 11 January 2009 Observer article, Erinys International, 12-January-2009, Accessed 02-October-2009. 
*Panorama, Daylight Robbery - What Happened To The $23 billion?, BBC One, Broadcast 10-June-2008 9pm
:*Press Release, Editorial weakness and inaccuracy revealed in BBC Panorama's 'Daylight Robbery' programme, Erinys International, 12-January-2009, Accessed 02-October-2009
*Opiyo Oloya, Death could come very swiftly in Iraq, New Vision, 25-May-2005 Received as attachment to: Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13
:*Peter Roberts,Letter to Editor, New Vision, 22-June-2005 Received as attachment to: Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13
*Opiyo Oloya, Did Askar Security lie about recruits for Iraq?, New Vision, 18-May-2005 Received as attachment to: Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13
:*Peter Roberts, Letter to editor, New Vision, 20-May-2005 Received as attachment to: Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org 2 October 2009 15:13
*David Isenberg, Protecting Iraq's precarious pipelines, Asia Times, 24-September-2004
:*Jonathan Garratt, Letter of Complaint, Asia Times Online, 04-November-2004, Accessed 02-October-2009
:*David Isenberg, David Isenberg responds, Asia Times Online, 6-November-2004, Accessed 02-October-2009.
* War on Want: Fabien Mathieu and Nick Dearden Corporate Mercenaries: The threat of private military and security companies Published November 2006, London: War on Want, Supported by the Campaign Against The Arms Trade.
:*War on Want - Erinys, Response to allegations made by War on Want against Erinys, Erinys International, Accessed 03-October-2009.
*Original Article, A Very Private War, Africa Confidential, 11-June-2004.
:*Africa Confidential - letter of rebuttal published on 5 November 2004 in relation to an article ('A Very Private War') published on 11 June 2004
*Original article: Unnamed Article, Private Eye, Issue No. 1108, 11-24 June 2004 
:*Private Eye, letter from Ian Hislop on 1st July 2004 in response to a complaint that Erinys made about inaccurate coverage in the issue of 14 June 2004. According to Peter Roberts, counsel to Erinys, 'It fell short of using the word 'apologise', but at least PE never repeated the same errors, so we took it no further.'Peter Roberts 'Re: Ghana' Email to editor@spinprofiles.org, 02-October-2009 15:13
*Original Article Salim Vally and Andy Clarno, Privatised war: the South African connection, Independent on Sunday (South Africa), 20-March-2005
:*Independent on Sunday (South Africa), letter published on 20 March 2005 and apology on 27 March 2005 re Clarno/Vally article on 'privatised war' March 2005 Letter.
*Original Article Opiyo Oloya, Did Askar Security Lie About Recruits for Iraq?, New Vision (Uganda), 18-May-2005
:*New Vision (Uganda), Rebuttal letter published on 22 June 2005
*Defamation Case against the BBC: Duty and Honour, Waking the Dead, Series 7 Episode 3, 28-29 April 2008, The episode featured a villain with a similar name and background to former Guards officer, now Erinys boss, Jonathan Garratt. 
:*Miles Goslett, 'Ex Army officer sues BBC over Waking The Dead character and a 'coincidence too far', Mail On Sunday, 25-May-2008, Accessed from Lexis Nexis, 09-September-2009
:*Tara Conlan, BBC says sorry over Waking the Dead, The Guardian, 21-May-2008, Accessed 09-September-2009
*Original Article, Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq war logs: military privatisation run amok, The Guardian, 23-October-2010
:*Rebuttal contained in original article: Pratap Chatterjee, Iraq war logs: military privatisation run amok, The Guardian, 23-October-2010
===Managing PBS===
Few private military contractors are keen to allow themselves to be filmed by journalists. Erinys was an exception in 2005 when it drove PBS producer Marcela Gaviria around Bagdhad. Gaviria reports:
:One day, as I'm settling in my room to check my e-mail... I get a phone call on my Iraqna cell. It's Andy Melville from Erinys and he wants to talk to me and find out what kind of film we are doing. I offer the hotel lobby. He offers to pick me up so I can spend the day with his private security team. I briefly hesitate, but quickly call up my co-producer Martin Smith and cameraman Tim Grucza to let them know where I've gone, and 30 minutes later I'm inside a bulletproof SUV careening about Baghdad's "Red Zone" at high speed. I'm in the "client car," unsure of where we are headed and thinking this is kind of nuts.
	
:The sirens make me the most uncomfortable. It's about as inviting as driving around Baghdad with a U.S. flag or a Union Jack hanging out the window. I'm starting to miss my discreet Iraqi driver in his beat-up Mercedes and tinted windows. Somehow, even driving in a soft-shell car seems a lot safer than running around the city in a three-car convoy with guys with big guns hanging out the window.
:The guys tell me they make six runs a day. It's impressive to beat the odds six times a day, every day. For a private security detail in Iraq, the facts of life are simple: Insurgents mingle in traffic, artillery shells are buried on the roadside, suicide bombers in cars packed with explosives lurk at on-ramps, waiting for convoys like theirs to pass by. There are no reliable statistics on how many private security guards have died in Iraq, but Erinys' gets attacked once or twice a week...
The US journalist acts almost as if she is embedded with the Erinys team, and allows herself to pose for a photograph with a weapon with the Erinys operatives:
:The boys are very relaxed. They seem to be enjoying the company of a visitor -- a female one to boot -- and are eager to teach me how to hold and fire a rifle. Most of them are South Africans, with thick accents. They are a charming bunch that make me laugh. And they are a close-knit group that seem to be relishing this experience.
:They fire hundreds of rounds at paper bodies taped to wooden planks. It's so loud, some of them use bullets as earplugs. I'm hoping they'll do that again if I get them to agree for cameras to follow them about for a couple of days. I ask a lot of questions and get a lot of very candid answers. Henny, what are you most afraid of out here? "Having my head chopped off ma'am." Bernard, how many Iraqi insurgents have you killed? "Can't comment on that ma'am, but let's say more than I can count on one hand." China, Iraqis hate you guys… "Yeah, they have a point, but if we did this differently, we'd be losing clients."Baghdad from a Bulletproof Window by Marcela Gaviria "Private Warriors" producer Marcela Gaviria describes her April 2005 trip to Baghdad and how it compared to her two previous trips to Iraq. Frontline, PBS, 21 June 2005
The Erinys team have no need to fear that this report will be at all critical, but they don't leave anything to chance, threatening the journalist about what will happen if any investigative elements creep into her report:
:That night Andy Melville wrote me an e-mail telling me that we have permission to film the team. He adds, "If I get a whiff that you are doing an investigative piece, I will be forced to come to the hotel and collect the footage forcibly." Luckily he never did carry out the threat.Baghdad from a Bulletproof Window by Marcela Gaviria "Private Warriors" producer Marcela Gaviria describes her April 2005 trip to Baghdad and how it compared to her two previous trips to Iraq. Frontline, PBS, 21 June 2005
===Defamation case against the BBC===
Erinys International began legal proceedings against the BBC after accusing the firm of defamation. The BBC had aired an episode of Waking the Dead which featured a fictional character who had the same name and background as Erinys Managing Director Jonathan Garratt. 
According to the Mail on Sunday the character in the BBC drama 'kills one of his friends and embarks on a shady business deal with an Iraqi villain to secure a lucrative contract.' Garratt and Erinys both sued the BBC. Garratt argued:
:I can understand that they might have used the same name but everything else about my regiment, my background and my current job means this is a coincidence too far. It's all too close to the bone. The BBC is meant to be a publicly funded broadcaster with the appropriate responsibility to present a balanced view.Miles Goslett, 'Ex Army officer sues BBC over Waking The Dead character and a 'coincidence too far', Mail On Sunday, 25-May-2008, Accessed from Lexis Nexis, 09-September-2009
The BBC apologised for 'any embarrassment caused' and 'agreed to pay legal costs'. It said 'John Garret' was 'entirely fictional' and 'was not intended to bear any similarity to Jonathan Garratt.'Tara Conlan, BBC says sorry over Waking the Dead, The Guardian, 21-May-2008, Accessed 09-September-2009
==Litvinenko affair==
Ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko visited Erinys' offices in London in the month before his death from polonium poisoning. According to the New York Sun:
:Litvinenko then proceeded to the Millennium Hotel, where he had an appointment to see Andrei Lugovoi, who had also served in the FSB up until 1999 and who now owned a private security firm in Moscow. He had been meeting with Mr. Lugovoi on his trips to London for several months.The Specter That Haunts the Death of Litvinenko, Edward Jay Epstein, New York Sun, 18 March 2008.
The Sun reported that Litvineko had visited the offices of Erinys UK two weeks earlier:
:to discuss a business proposal. According to Mr. Lugovoi, Litvinenko now wanted to discuss the progress of that venture, and so met him and his business associate Dmitry Kovtun in the crowded Pine Bar for tea. After leaving the Pine Bar, Litvinenko went to Mr. Berezovsky's office. When he returned home, according to his wife Marina, he felt ill. Two days later, he was admitted to Barnet General Hospital.The Specter That Haunts the Death of Litvinenko, Edward Jay Epstein, New York Sun, 18 March 2008.
Reports from the police investigation Litvinenko's death revealed that traces of polonium 210 the radioactive substance that killed Litvinenko were found at Erinys UK’s London office in Grosvenor Street. Traces of the radioactive substance were also found at the London offices of the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky and at the Millennium Hotel in nearby Grosvenor Square.
A spokesman for the company, Erinys, said it had alerted police because Mr Litvinenko had visited its offices on a 'totally unrelated' matter some time before he was admitted to hospital. He added: 'None of our staff with whom he had contact have suffered any ill effects.' Sandra Laville and Tania Branigan, Polonium detected at Berezovsky's office, The Guardian, 28-November-2006, Accessed 28-September-2009. Litvinenko had met Tim Reilly of Erinys UK Ltd on at least one of his visits to the Grosvenor Street officePeter Roberts, [E-mail from peterwroberts@hotmail.com To: editor@spinprofiles.org], RE: Erinys Profile, Thu, 8 Oct 2009 17:19:14.
Although the Sun reported that Beresovsky owned the Grosvenor Street office block housing Erinys,The Specter That Haunts the Death of Litvinenko, Edward Jay Epstein, New York Sun, 18 March 2008. the Erinys Legal counsel Peter Roberts states that 
:The offices in Grosvenor Street were those of Erinys UK Ltd and Titon International Ltd – with whom Litvinenko had business relations... It is erroneous to state that Berezovsky was the owner of the building: the owner of the building (and everything else in the area) was Grosvenor Estates, who sublet it via a chain of lessees to Wolverhampton Council and thence to Royal & Sun Alliance, who sublet it to Erinys UK Ltd.Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', document emailed to Spinprfles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs 
==Clients==
According to PR Web 'Erinys client base includes the United Nations, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom, NGOs, multinational organisations as well as small and medium sized organisations'.PR Web UK, Erinys Launches its Bridgehead™ Market Entry and Business Support Services in Iraq and Afghanistan, Scribd, Accessed 24-July-2010 According to PBS, Erinys have contracts 'to protect the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID, Fluor, Siemens and the BBC'.Frontline, Who are the contractors?, PBS, 24-June-2005, Accessed 24-July-2010
==People==
===Management===
Name 	Erinys Branch 	Position 	Joined Erinys 	Left Erinys
John Holmes 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Director 	20-July-2004 	05-December-2008Companies House Documents, Director Resignation 288b, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 03-October-2009
Alastair Morrison 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Director 	December-2008 	PresentManagement, Alastair Morrison, Erinys International, Accessed 08-February-2010
Michael Hutchings 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Director 	27-August-2009Companies House Documents, New Director Appointment 288a, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 03-October-2009	Present
Godfrey Mcfall 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Director 	14-August-2008Companies House Documents, New Director Appointment 288a, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 03-October-2009	22-April-2009Companies House Documents, Director Resignation 288b, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 03-October-2009
Peter Roberts 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Group Business & Legal Advisor	03-August-2004Companies House Documents, 363a Annual Return, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 03-October-2009 	Present
Jonathan Garratt 	Erinys International 	Group Managing Director 	2001 	Present
Fraser Brown 	Erinys International 	Chief Operations Officer 	2001 	Present
Jonathan Eldridge 	Erinys Africa (Pty) Ltd	Regional Director (Africa) 	May-2005 	Present
George Hatton 	Erinys Iraq 	Country Manager (Iraq) 	2007 	Present
Davey Kirk 	Erinys Africa (Pty) Ltd	Country Manager (Nigeria) 	2007 	Present
Clare Harkin 	 	Conflict Resolution Consultant	 	
Jean Jacques N'Salanga	Erinys Africa (Pty) Ltd	Country Manager (DRC & ROC) 	2004 	Present
Drew Weir 	Erinys Iraq 	Director of Operations (Iraq) 	-January-2004 	-September-2005
Natalie Brown 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Secretary 	16-April-2005Companies House Documents, 288a, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 08-October-2009 	16-January-2006Companies House Documents, 288b, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 08-October-2009
Judi Donegan 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Secretary 	16-January-2006Companies House Documents, 288a, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 08-October-2009 	31-May-2006Companies House Documents, 288b, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 08-October-2009
Dominik Henry 	Erinys (UK) Ltd 	Secretary 	20-July-2004 	03-August-2004Companies House Documents, 288b, Erinys UK (Ltd), Accessed 08-October-2009
===Personnel===
Name 	Erinys Branch 	Position 	Joined Erinys	Left Erinys
Tim Reilly 	Erinys International	Director of Energy Projects 	 	
Etienne Smith 	Erinys Iraq 	Tom O'Donnell's personal security teamChuck Yarborough, Plain Dealer Reporter 'Struggling with security', Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio),February 15, 2004 Sunday, Sports Final / All, Correction Appended, NATIONAL; Pg. A1	 	
Braam "Pottie" Potgieter	Erinys Iraq 	Tom O'Donnell's personal security teamChuck Yarborough, Plain Dealer Reporter 'Struggling with security', Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio),February 15, 2004 Sunday, Sports Final / All, Correction Appended, NATIONAL; Pg. A1	 	
Conrad Blything 	Erinys Iraq 	Tom O'Donnell's personal security teamChuck Yarborough, Plain Dealer Reporter 'Struggling with security', Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio),February 15, 2004 Sunday, Sports Final / All, Correction Appended, NATIONAL; Pg. A1	 	
Cobus Brink 	Erinys Iraq 	Tom O'Donnell's personal security teamChuck Yarborough, Plain Dealer Reporter 'Struggling with security', Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio),February 15, 2004 Sunday, Sports Final / All, Correction Appended, NATIONAL; Pg. A1	 	
==Affiliations, Subsidiaries and Addresses==
===Affiliations===
*British Association of Private Security Companies | Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence – sent staff on courses there Scribd, Certificate in Terrorism, St. Andrews University, Accessed 10-September-2009 | International Peace Operations Association | Private Security Company Association of Iraq
===Addresses and Subsidiaries===
:Erinys International Ltd Head Office Erinys Middle East & Central Asia Regional Office
:Building 5EA, Suite 128, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai. United Arab Emirates.Erinys Locations - Head Office; Middle East & Central Asia, accessed 3 October 2009
:Erinys (UK) Ltd
:66 Chiltern Street
:LONDON
:UK
:W1U 4JT
:Company No. 05184177
:Erinys UK Ltd & Erinys European Regional Office
:Basepoint Business Centre, 
:Caxton Close, Andover, 
:Hants., SP10 3FG. England Erinys UK Ltd & Erinys European Regional Office, accessed 18 May 2011 
:Erinys South Africa
:Erinys South Africa (Pty) Ltd &
:Erinys Africa Regional Office
:Erinys House, Mulberry Hill Office Park, Broadacres Drive, Johannesburg, RSA.Erinys Locations - South Africa, accessed 3 October 2009 
:Erinys Iraq
:Erinys Iraq Ltd.
:Baghdad International Airport, Free Trade Zone, Baghdad, Iraq.Erinys Locations - Baghdad, accessed 3 October 2009
:IDG Security Aghanistan Ltd
:Part of the Erinys Group
:Sherpor, District 10, Street 15, Lane 6, House 1020, Kabul, AfghanistanErinys Locations - Kabul, accessed 3 October 2009
:Erinys RDC s.p.r.l.
:Concession Cotex, 63 Avenue Colonel Mondjiba, Nr 3B, Ngaliema, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.Erinys Locations - DRC, accessed 3 October 2009
:Erinys Nigeria Ltd.
:Care of: Ibru Organisation Ltd, No 6 Louis Solomon Close, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.Erinys Locations - Nigeria, accessed 3 October 2009
===Addresses===
The registered office of Erinys UK Ltd until December 2007 was:Peter Roberts 'PWR comment on revised profile 14 Nov', document emailed to Spinprfles Editor by Peter Roberts, 14 November 2009, 17.02hrs
:25 Grosvenor Street, 
:London W1K
==References and Resources==
===Resources===
*Alec Klein, For Security in Iraq, a Turn to British Know-How, Washington Post, 24 August 2007.
*Steven Harkins and David Miller, Erinys International: Spinning for the private military, SpinWatch, June 2011
===References===
Category:Private Military Corporations