Kommerzielle Koordinierung
Kommerzielle Koordinierung was a secret commercial enterprise in East Germany, run by the Stasi officer Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski and called KoKo (short for Kommerzielle Koordinierung) had developed from the official smuggling operations of the 1950s. Its main goal was to bring foreign currency to the GDR. It was officially established in 1966 and was involved in business dealings and industrial espionage in Western countries. It is estimated that between 1966 and 1989 it generated nearly 25 billion DM.[1]
KoKo operated 180 front companies in West and brought their hard currency profits to secret accounts in Eastern Germany. Its operations were controlled by Honecker, Mielke and Mittag. KoKo was involved in illegal arms deals with Iran and Third World regimes and even the CIA, "selling" of Eastern German political prisoners to Western Germany, purchasing high technology products despite Western embargo, selling antique artworks to West and importing luxury items for the top party nomenklatura.[2] One of the closest Schalck's partners in the West was Bavaria's Prime minister Franz-Josef Strauss. In 1983 they negotiated agreement under which Western banks provided 1 billion DM credit to the GDR in return for the easing of travel restrictions of East German citizens to the West. Egon Bahr later said in an interview that this had 'fabelhaft funktioniert', worked wonderfully.