Protechnik

Article summary

Protechnik was a front company established on 24 June 1987 by the South African Defence Force to perform quality assurance testing of chemical protective materials and equipment within a covert operation known as Project Coast. Founded by Dr. Jan Lourens, a bio-engineering consultant at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories, as Systems Research and Development (SRD), with funding provided by the Medical arm of the SADF. Protechnik's shareholders would include Medchem Consolidated Investments (MCI), WPW Investments (a firm belonging to Wouter Basson) the Luxembourg-based Charburn Enterprises. According to testimony provided in the Wouter Basson trial, Protechnik was involved in reverse engineering Chemical Agent Monitors. The company is now a subsidiary of Armscor.

Key claims

1. date of establishment: 1987-06-24 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of establishment is "1987-06-24". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

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