AML-CFT : Messages : 1055-1084 of 1535

#1055

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Mon Mar 2, 2009 3:30 pm
Subject: Austrian officials arrest BAE lobbyist on money-laundering charges

akgunalp

Send Email

by David Leigh

Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly questioned over €13m payment from British arms company

An Austrian count and lobbyist for the British arms company BAE has been arrested, making him the first of the company's global network of confidential agents to be held in custody in five years of bribery investigations by international authorities.

Count Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly is being detained in Austria after being arrested on Friday, a spokesman for the Vienna regional court for criminal matters, Christian Gneist, said. He faces a court hearing on 16 March.

Under Austrian law, pre-trial custody can last up to six months if an investigating judge deems it necessary.

Mensdorff-Pouilly owns a castle in Scotland and is married to the former Austrian health minister Maria Rauch-Kallat. He was arrested at his house in Luising, Austria, according to his lawyer, Harald Schuster, who claimed the accusations, which include money laundering, were groundless.

BAE, Europe's biggest arms manufacturer, declined to comment on the arrest.

The Austrian investigation, which follows one by British authorities, relates to lease agreements from 2003 and 2004. Hungary renewed a lease for 14 Gripen planes and the Czech government agreed to lease 14 planes over 10 years. BAE marketed the planes, which are produced by the Swedish company Saab, in which BAE has a 21% stake.

Mensdorff-Pouilly is being questioned in connection with a €13m (£11.6m) payment allegedly made to him by BAE, for whom he had been a consultant for 16 years. Documents which have emerged in the case link BAE to secret payments made to an intermediary company called Valurex, in Switzerland.

Following exposure by the Guardian of the original bribery allegations against BAE, a report last year by the retired British judge Lord Woolf said the arms giant had paid "insufficient attention" to ethical standards when doing arms deals. After strenuous lobbying by BAE, a British investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into bribery allegations in Saudi Arabia was halted by the then prime minister, Tony Blair, on the grounds it would compromise national security.

But the SFO continued to work with international prosecutors on allegations against BAE in eastern Europe, Tanzania, Chile and South Africa. They obtained production orders from BAE and its bankers, Lloyds TSB, which unearthed links with Mensdorff-Pouilly's companies.

Last year, the count was stopped for questioning by the SFO on the way home from Dalnaglar Castle in Perthshire, a property he bought after the conclusion of the Czech deals.

The US justice department has been negotiating with BAE about the possibility of a settlement in a parallel investigation into possible breaches of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Source: The Guardian

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/02/2009 07:28:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1056

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Mon Mar 2, 2009 3:32 pm
Subject: Romania, vulnerable to financial crimes and money laundering

akgunalp

Send Email

Romania's geographic location makes it a natural transit country for trafficking in narcotics, arms, stolen vehicles, and persons. As such, the nation is vulnerable to financial crimes, including money laundering, reads a report of US State Department.

Smuggling of illicit goods, tax evasion and online credit card fraud are additional of financial crimes prevalent in Romania reads the State Department report on drug smuggling, that encloses a chapter assigned to money laundering and financial crimes.

Romania also has one of the highest occurrences of online credit card fraud in the world. Recent studies found that Romanian servers are the second biggest source for fraudulent online transactions, 13% of them being involved. Although most of the victims live in United States, criminals start to attack European citizens or even Romanians.

Laundered money comes primarily from domestic criminal activity carried out by international crime syndicates, which often launder money through limited liability companies set up for this purpose. The proceeds also from the smuggling of cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, and other dutiable commodities are also laundered in Romania. Endemic corruption in Romania and its neighboring countries abets money laundering.

After a review of all the amendments made by Romania in the last years to combat money laundering, the US report said the National Office for the Prevention and Control of Money Laundering received 352 notifications on possible transactions that could be subject money laundering or financing terrorism, in first nine months of 2009.The notifications came from various institutions, such as National Bank of Romania, Insurance Supervision Commission or Ministry of Economy.

After an examination of the suspicious transactions filed, NOPCML forwards a report to the governmental agency to continue investigation. In first nine months of 2008, the institution probed into 965 cases, 489 of money laundry and seven of terrorist financing.

The report describes the various political and operational problems that hampered NOPCLM, including the lack of staff and corruption allegations against one of its members. The institution has received negative feedback from the reporting entities.

At the end of the first nine months of 2008, The National Anti-Corruption Department has opened 41 cases in money laundering, which have resulted in indictment. Funds and assets worth 50 mln euros have been subject to administrative freezing. In the same time, the National Anti-Corruption Department has opened 112 cases suspected for money laundering.

Source: Wall-Street

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/02/2009 07:30:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1057

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Mon Mar 2, 2009 3:38 pm
Subject: Turkish financial institutions to start monitoring clients' transac...

akgunalp

Send Email

The new "complaince programme" regulation, stipulating banks, stock brokers, insurance and retirement companies, postal services to take a series of measures against laundering of criminal money and financing of terrorism, will take effect as of Monday.

Under the risk oriented complaince programme, the said companies are expected to create corporate policy and procedures that would guide and govern processes of risk management, monitoring, control, training, and internal auditing.

Risk management

With the risk management enforced by the programme companies have to develop methods to define, classify, and assess risks related with services, clients and countries. Under risk management: the clients and transactions will be classified, the ones carrying risk will be monitored and reported to related units. Periodic reports on risk monitoring and assessment will be provided to the Board of Governors.

Engaging in business with clients that are in a high risk category will require legal consent of the superiors along with a through inspection of the source of assets. Complicated and unusual transactions will be put on watch, and when transactions exceed a certain limit, client profile will be checked for relevance.

"Know your customer"

All related companies assigned compliance officers. Larger companies also assigned compliance officers and a group of personnel to work under them to meet the requirements.

Adnan Erturk, Head of the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), told the Anatolia news agency that a new era, in fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism had begun noting that the motto of this era was "know your customer".

"The game rules in fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism are clearly defined now. We are setting up a mechanism to make clear distinctions between the east and the west. We are eradicating the uncertainties. But there is no need to worry for people who have nothing to do with crime or financing of terror. Regulations are in compliance with international law."

He said it would take three to five months for the system to take root, noting that they would later start auditing.

Source: THE ANATOLIA NEWS AGENCY

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/02/2009 07:32:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1058

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:04 pm
Subject: US: Four valley men arrested in weapons, tax evasion case

akgunalp

Send Email

By ADRIENNE PACKER

Four Las Vegas residents were arrested Thursday on charges that include possession of weapons and tax evasion in a raid conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Jan Lindsey was arrested on tax evasion charges. Harold Call faces a possession of a machine gun charge. Samuel Davis and Shawn Rice were charged with conspiracy and money laundering.

Authorities did not explain why the Joint Terrorism Task Force was involved.

Lindsey appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon and refused to allow a federal public defender to represent him during the hearing. When U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen granted prosecutors’ request to keep Lindsey in custody, he shouted: “I object, your honor.”

All four men are scheduled to enter pleas on the charges today.

According to the indictment, Lindsey either failed to pay his income tax or filed false tax forms from 1999 through 2006. He also attempted to fool the government by “concealing and attempting to conceal from the Internal Revenue Service the nature, extent and location of his assets by various methods, including placing funds and property in the names of nominee third party entities,” the indictment states.

According to court records, a Lindsey filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2002 after his property was seized because he failed to pay taxes. In court documents, Lindsey quotes books related to taxpayers rights. In transcripts of various hearings, Lindsey frequently asked procedural questions and challenged the law.

In court on Thursday, Lindsey repeatedly interrupted Leen to ask questions until the judge told him, “This isn’t 20 questions.”

Undercover FBI agents approached Davis and Rice last year and informed the men that they had stolen blank checks from Wachovia Bank. The agents said they needed assistance to launder the money from the checks and Davis said he had experience in money laundering, according to the indictment.

Davis planned to pass the money through the financial accounts of several trusts and corporations that he controlled, then return the money to the undercover agents, the indictment states. Davis said he would also conceal the proceeds as loans.

Davis “explained that the money would not be subject to tax liability, and that the loans would be concealed by having all parties involved sign nondisclosure agreements,” the indictment states.

Between March 2008 and September 2008, agents wired about $585,000 to Davis and he returned $540,000, keeping the balance as payment for his services, according to the indictment.

Rice signed on as Davis’ associate to help with the money laundering.

Call was found in possession of an unregistered machine gun, according to the indictment. The gun is a combination of parts commonly known as “lightning link,” which is designed to shoot multiple shots without reloading.

Agents searched Call’s home at 8208 Gunther Circle, near Alta and Buffalo drives, on Thursday. In the garage was a small canister of black powder and two ammunition reloading machines. A bumper sticker on a vehicle read: “My president is Charlton Heston.” Heston was not only known for his acting, but as a strong advocate for gun rights.

Neighbors said dozens of federal agents arrived outside the home about 8 a.m. Dave Beyl, 26, said he saw a Humvee and people in camouflage uniforms shouting over a megaphone for Call to leave the house.

Call was known in the neighborhood for not being fond of the government, said Mike Mulligan, who moved away from the neighborhood in August.

“He definitely believed in the right to bear arms, we knew that,” Mulligan said.

But Call never showed his weapons to Mulligan. Call, who Mulligan believed is 67, was a kind old man who would try to keep the neighborhood in order, he said.

He also had a tendency to write letters to everybody, from neighbors who would have loud parties to the government, Mulligan said.

“He was a wonderful guy,” he said. “And to everybody there, Harold was always a good neighbor. He was friendly as hell.”

Source: LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:02:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1059

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:02 pm
Subject: US officer charged with stealing Iraq relief funds

akgunalp

Send Email

A US military officer was charged Thursday with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash intended for relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Justice said.

While stationed in Iraq between April 2007 and February 2009, 28-year-old Michael Dung Nguyen is alleged to have stolen more than 690,000 dollars in US currency, sending it back to his home in northwestern Oregon state, the department said in a statement.

The funds were swiped from the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP), designed to empower local commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan to respond to humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts.

After his return from Iraq, Nguyen is accused of opening new accounts at numerous banks, including Bank of America and Washington Mutual Bank, to deposit the cash.

After making the deposits "in a manner intended to avoid detection," according to the Justice Department, Nguyen allegedly attempted money laundering with the purchases of high-end goods.

He bought a luxury BMW vehicle and a 2009 model Hummer truck H3T, along with computers, electronic equipment and furniture, the indictment said.

Nguyen has been officially charged on three counts -- theft of government property, money laundering and structuring financial transaction -- and if convicted could face 30 years in prison and a 500,000-dollar fine.

The conduct alleged in the indictment amounts to a "flagrant and reprehensible disregard" of US army principles, according to prosecuting attorney Karin Immergut.

"By stealing money intended to assist Iraqi citizens, Capt. Nguyen betrayed his country and the fine men and women of our nation's armed services," she added in a statement.

Source: AFP

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 04:50:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1060

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:12 pm
Subject: Australian Police swoop on alleged money laundering scam

akgunalp

Send Email

THE MOTHER of a former Finks bikie and an accountant have been arrested for allegedly laundering money for her son.

The Greenwith woman, 50, was caught as part of Operation Tutoko run by South Australia Police and the Australian Crime Commission.

The operation was set up to target members and families of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs who try and launder money they have made through their illegal activities.

The accountant from Hallett Cove was arrested two weeks ago for allegedly creating false documents so the woman could purchase some real estate with dirty money from her son.

Both of them will appear in court in May charged with deception and dishonest dealing with false documents.

Source: Adelaide

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:11:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1061

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:09 pm
Subject: Swiss Suffer Secrecy Loss to Sustain Money Management Franchise

akgunalp

Send Email

By Elena Logutenkova and Joshua Gallu

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Ever since UBS AG handed over the names of about 300 customers to the U.S. on Feb. 18, there’s been nothing but shuddering from Zurich’s Paradeplatz to Geneva’s quartier des banques.

The decision marked the first time Switzerland lifted its banking secrecy laws, allowing UBS to pass on client data to avoid U.S. criminal charges. In the past two weeks, Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said he’s willing to collect taxes on offshore accounts for the U.S., and Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf offered cooperation on some cases of tax evasion.

“That’s de facto abolishing banking secrecy,” said Regula Staempfli, a Swiss political scientist in Brussels who lectures at universities in Germany, France and Switzerland about European and Swiss political decision making. “Having broken the rule of law, we have no ground to refuse Brussels what we’ve given Washington.”

Switzerland can’t ignore U.S. demands because UBS and Credit Suisse Group AG earned more revenue in the Americas from 2004 to 2007 than they did in their home market, company reports show. The government’s concessions to protect UBS, the country’s biggest bank, threaten to undermine a cornerstone of the Swiss banking industry, which manages $2 trillion for foreign clients and accounted for 8.5 percent of the domestic economy in 2007, according to the Swiss Bankers Association in Basel.

At stake are the jobs of the 130,000 people who work at banks in the 26 cantons of Switzerland, representing about 4 percent of the country’s workforce.

‘Under Pressure’

Swiss law currently allows for bank secrecy to be lifted only when there’s a criminal offense, such as tax fraud or money laundering. Tax evasion, or forgetting to declare income, isn’t a crime in Switzerland, and banks aren’t required to inform authorities of funds that may be undeclared.

“We’re under pressure,” said Christophe Darbellay, head of the Christian People’s Party, the third-largest in parliament after the anti-immigrant People’s Party and the Social Democrats. “Today we’re talking about the difference between tax fraud and tax evasion. Tomorrow there will be another issue.”

Thomas Borer, a former Swiss ambassador to the U.S. and Germany who led a task-force in a dispute over Holocaust assets a decade ago, said the government should have acted to defend its bank secrecy before Zurich-based UBS ran into troubles.

Lost Taxes

“For 10 years we neglected to come up with a strategy for Switzerland as a financial center,” Borer said in a telephone interview from Zurich, where he is a board member of Renova Management AG, an investment company owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. “We didn’t find allies who believe in our concept of Swiss banking. We just sit in our Swiss bunker and complain.”

Offshore accounts in countries such as Switzerland cost the U.S. about $100 billion in taxes annually, according to estimates from Michigan Senator Carl Levin. The U.K. probably loses at least 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) a year in revenue, the London-based Trades Union Congress reported March 1.

With governments around the world facing budget deficits from the financial crisis, patience with Switzerland’s position is running out from Washington to Paris and Berlin. On Feb. 19, a day after UBS agreed to give out the 300 client names, the U.S. government sued it to force the disclosure of as many as 52,000 names of American customers who allegedly hid their Swiss accounts from tax authorities. The following weekend, European leaders said they will crack down on tax havens and threatened “sanctions” against “uncooperative jurisdictions.”

Call for Diplomacy

Mark Branson, the chief financial officer of UBS’s wealth management and Swiss bank division, told Levin and his colleagues at a hearing on March 4 that the company won’t turn over the names of any more clients.

UBS has already “complied with the summons to the fullest extent possible without subjecting its employees to criminal prosecution in Switzerland” under bank-secrecy laws, Branson said. UBS has said the dispute should be resolved through diplomacy and not the U.S. lawsuit filed in Miami federal court.

Threatened with the loss of their competitive advantage, even Geneva’s traditionally reserved bankers have joined the debate. Ivan Pictet, senior managing partner at Pictet & Cie., said the domestic banking industry may shrink by as much as 50 percent if the country lifts the distinction between tax fraud and tax evasion.

Swiss banks contributed about 20 percent to the country’s economic growth in the past four years, said Bruno Parnisari, a government economist.

UBS’s Ambition

UBS and Zurich-based Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, generated 36 percent of their revenue in the Americas in the four years through 2007, compared with 34 percent in Switzerland and 22 percent in the rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The ambition of the two big Swiss banks is to be global players,” said Teodoro Cocca, professor of wealth management at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. “If you have that vision, you can’t afford not to be present in the biggest capital market of the world.”

The Swiss government has been weakened at home since it gave in to the Feb. 18 ultimatum by the U.S. The decision allowed UBS to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement, in which it admitted conspiring to help clients conceal assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

Merz, 66, who currently holds Switzerland’s rotating presidency, was criticized by Swiss media over the decision. An editorial in the Zurich-based Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said Switzerland was without leadership, and the tabloid Blick portrayed the country as a “banana republic” for breaking its own laws.

‘Caught Pants Down’

“They were caught with their pants down,” Staempfli said. “Merz had said that banking secrecy isn’t negotiable. You don’t say that because everything is negotiable in politics.”

Within two weeks of the deal, UBS replaced Chief Executive Officer Marcel Rohner, who headed the unit accused of helping Americans evade taxes before becoming CEO 18 months ago, and 59- year-old Peter Kurer, the bank’s legal counsel before he was named Chairman less than a year ago. The bank has denied allegations in Swiss newspapers that the two knew of structures aimed at defrauding the U.S.

UBS called 65-year-old veteran banker Oswald Gruebel, who turned around Credit Suisse in 2003 after two years of losses, out of retirement to succeed Rohner, 44. It proposed former Finance Minister Kaspar Villiger, 68, as chairman. During Villiger’s time at the finance ministry, Switzerland enacted legislation against money laundering and agreed to a European Union plan on the taxation of savings income.

‘Declaration of War’

The government has scheduled a press conference for today to provide results of its discussions on UBS and the country’s banking secrecy law. It has proposed setting up a task force to deal with the U.S. legal proceedings and scheduled talks with government officials in Austria and Luxembourg to discuss blacklists for so-called tax havens.

Levin, who oversees the U.S. Senate subcommittee investigating UBS, proposed new laws this week to stop Americans from using offshore financial centers to evade taxes, supporting legislation previously sponsored by President Barack Obama. The Michigan Democrat wants to impose tougher requirements on taxpayers with offshore accounts and give the Treasury Department the authority to take action against foreign jurisdictions that impede tax enforcement.

‘Cash Cow’

“Bank secrecy is a cash cow in Switzerland,” Levin said at the March 4 hearing held by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “Conduct that actively facilitates tax evasion amounts to a declaration of war by offshore secrecy jurisdictions against honest, hardworking taxpayers. We’re determined to fight back and end the abuses inflicted on us by those tax havens.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee on the same day that the government will mount an “ambitious” program to crack down on companies that use offshore locales to avoid paying taxes.

Merz said last week he’s willing to make an agreement with the U.S. that’s similar to an accord with the European Union, under which Switzerland collects taxes on offshore accounts anonymously on behalf of the EU. Widmer-Schlumpf said after a meeting this week with Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Margolis that the government will review whether to treat “gross” tax evasion the same as tax fraud.

“Switzerland has to move from being an obstacle to an engine of international regulations,” said Christian Levrat, head of the Social Democratic Party, in an interview. “That means giving up the distinction between tax evasion and tax fraud.”

‘Fishing Expeditions’

While cooperation on gross tax evasion may not be enough to satisfy the U.S. and EU, the Swiss are concerned that assistance in tax evasion cases may open the door for foreign countries to request data they don’t need, said Peter V. Kunz, head of the business law department at the University of Bern.

“Switzerland is afraid of fishing expeditions from abroad,” Kunz said. “It cannot be that just out of curiosity, without any hint of illegality, foreign authorities come to Switzerland and ask for information.”

Swiss banks manage 27 percent of the $7.3 trillion in offshore global assets, the biggest market share ahead of the U.K.’s Channel Islands with 24 percent and Luxembourg with 14 percent, according to the bankers association. Offshore banking accounts for 3 percent of the Swiss economy and tax revenue, and 1 percent of all jobs in the country.

Baer to Vontobel

If banking secrecy “disappears, clients will no longer have any reason to travel 500 kilometers to see their banker,” Pictet told Le Temps in an interview published Feb. 24. “The traditional Swiss banking know-how in wealth management wouldn’t, in itself, be enough to compensate for the lack of protection in the private sphere.”

Gruebel, UBS’s new CEO, said in an interview with the Finanz & Wirtschaft newspaper in Zurich that client confidentiality laws have “strongly helped” Switzerland in the past.

“We’re talking about enormous sums,” he said. “This is not just about taxes, but rather about a branch of the economy that creates jobs and income.”

Zurich-based Julius Baer Holding AG and Vontobel Holding AG, which cater to millionaires, owe 8 percent to 13 percent of their market value to the banking secrecy law, according to a 2005 study sponsored by the University of Zurich and the Swiss National Science Foundation. The study examined share price performance from 2002 to 2003, when Switzerland and the EU held talks on banking secrecy.

UBS, Switzerland’s largest wealth manager, has lost 22 percent of its market value since the U.S. obtained the client data last month, compared with a 17 percent drop in the 65-member Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index. It beat the index in all but three years since the start of the decade.

“The government put its head down and ignored the situation and then panicked when they realized they were up against a wall,” said Cocca. “They’ll have to give in to reduce the pressure on Switzerland.”

Source: Bloomberg

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:05:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1062

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:10 pm
Subject: Money-laundering detective sentenced to 18 months

akgunalp

Send Email

A former Fort Lauderdale police detective who pleaded guilty to money laundering has been sentenced to 18 months in state prison, followed by 10 years supervised probation.

Jorge Reyes, 32, was an eight-year veteran police detective assigned to a special multi-agency task force that investigates money laundering, but he is now serving prison time for that crime himself.

Officials with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office are not providing details of the plea agreement. They would not say whether Reyes is cooperating with prosecutors to implicate other officers in any ongoing investigations.

Ed Griffith, spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, said in an email, “We would never discuss information relating to any ongoing investigations.”

Reyes’ attorney, David Macey of Miami, did not respond to emails or messages left at his Miami office seeking comment.

Reyes resigned from the police force on Dec. 22, 2008, after pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiracy on Dec. 18.

At the Dec. 18 hearing, Reyes was booked into the county jail and released later that day on his own recognizance without having to post bail.
His release was pending a Feb. 13 sentencing court date.

Also at the Dec. 18 court hearing, a judge approved a motion to seal the case, making the records and files confidential.

During the Feb. 13 hearing at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola gave Reyes his sentence, and also required him to pay $583 in court costs.

The South Florida Times has confirmed that after Reyes was sentenced, he was immediately taken into custody inside the courtroom. He is being held as inmate number 090013143 at the 1300-bed, Turner Gilford Knight Correctional Center at 7000 N.W. 41st Street in Miami, awaiting transfer to a state prison.

When Reyes turned himself in to authorities on Dec. 18, he was charged with one count of money laundering of more than $100,000 within a 12-month period, records show.

The exact amount of funds has not been disclosed, but it is believed to be more than $750,000, according to sources familiar with the investigation who did not wish to be identified.

The events first began unfolding on Oct. 9, when Reyes was placed on paid administrative leave after the Fort Lauderdale Police Department received notice of the investigation from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

Another man, Luis E. Calvo Jr., who stood accused as an accomplice in the crime with Reyes, also accepted a plea deal in connection with the case and was scheduled to be sentenced at a Jan. 16 hearing. That court date has now been moved back to March 4, but during a court appearance on Oct. 16, Calvo pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. He acknowledged guilt before the judge and prosecutors about his, and Reyes’ role in the case.

The one count to which Calvo pleaded guilty reads, in part: “Luis Eusebio Calvo, on or about October 7, 2008, in the County and State aforesaid, did conspire, combine, confederate and agree with others, to wit: Jorge Reyes, to transport or attempt to transport a monetary instrument or funds and knowing monetary instrument or funds involved in the transportation represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity.”

Reyes was one of two Fort Lauderdale detectives assigned to a special task force that consists of state, local and federal agencies whose primary focus is to investigate and break up money-laundering rings. The money-laundering investigation was based in Miami-Dade County.

Money laundering is the practice of making financial transactions to conceal the identity, source and/or destination of money. It is often associated with organized crime. The money being laundered has usually been obtained through illegal activity.

The connection between Reyes’ official duties and the criminal investigation into his money-laundering activities has not yet been clarified, and officials are neither confirming nor denying any connections.

According to sources, Reyes recruited Calvo and then provided him with confidential and privileged information that allowed him to pick up money from a suspect who was under surveillance by the money-laundering task force.

The investigation culminated in the early-morning hours of Oct. 8, 2008, in the parking lot of the Broward Mall in Plantation, where Calvo picked up an undisclosed amount of cash from another person, sources said. As the monetary exchange unfolded, Reyes reportedly sat in a separate vehicle, overseeing the exchange from a distance.

Reyes was born in Havana, Cuba and is a naturalized United States citizen. Hired on Oct. 16, 2000, Reyes rose through the ranks, worked out of the city’s detective bureau, and was assigned to the money-laundering task force. He has also worked in SWAT and other elite units of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

With the exception of two vehicle accidents in 2001, and a reprimand for failing to completely fill out a police report in 2006, Reyes’ personnel record and employment history have been without incident. Reyes received annual compensation of $117,140, which included health, pension and other benefits.

In previous interviews, Fort Lauderdale City Attorney Harry Stewart said there will be a review of pending cases involving Reyes to determine if the cases would go forward in light of the fact that Reyes has lost credibility as a witness.

Source: South Florida Times

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:09:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1063

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:16 pm
Subject: Indonesia: Police arrest two linked to money laundering syndicate

akgunalp

Send Email

Police said Thursday they had arrested two people linked to international money laundering crimes on the Internet.

"The suspects were arrested two days ago in Medan *in North Sumatra*," National Police chief of criminal investigation division Com. Gen. Susno Duadji told The Jakarta Post.

"They are suspected of committing fraud via the Internet," he added.

Tempo Interaktif news portal identified the suspects as Hendrianto, a 45-year old Indonesian citizen and Singaporean Yap Kok Yong Carlson, 30, who were swooped on at the Swiss Bell Hotel in Medan.

Susno said the police were still pursuing four other members of the syndicate, namely Andreas Nicholas, a UK national, Ricard Pereira of Singapore, Phanos Tenizes of Cyprus and Christanto of Indonesia.

Susno said the four fugitives were already on an international wanted list of criminals.

"We are cooperating with the British Interpol to nab Andreas," he told tempointeraktif.com earlier Thursday.

The investigation, Susno said, began when the Austrian Embassy received a report from one of its citizens, Emmeran Fischer, who had fallen victim to the syndicate.

Fischer, Susno said, saw an ad-vertisement for cheap electronic goods at www.alibaba.com. On Dec. 8, 2008, Fischer met with the suspects at the MMTC Warehouse, on Jl. Williem Iskandar No. B-20 in Pancing, Medan.

Their transaction involved 32,000 units of electronic goods, including 5,000 Nintendo Wiis, 5,000 Nintendo NHL Games, 5,000 Nintendo Pro Evolution Games, 5,400 Sony PS3s, and 800 Apple iPhones.

"The transaction had a value of around US$1 million," said Susno. Fischer transferred the money to Bank Mega's branch in Batam, through the JP Morgan Chase Bank in New York.

The delivery was made to company named Anugerah Jaya Perkasa. However, when the delivery deadline came around on Dec. 20, 2008, the purchased goods never arrived in Vienna, Austria.

The offenders claimed bad weather had impeded the delivery, and requested more money to send the goods by sea.

"The victim then sent an additional $900,000 for the delivery," Susno said. "But the promise was still not upheld."

Following leads from the report, the police went to the warehouse and found two boxes containing thousands of packages.

However, when the packages were thoroughly searched, police revealed they contained nothing more than bricks and paper.

"Only three packages contained electronic goods and they were the samples used during the initial transaction," he said.

The police and the Report and Financial Transaction Analysis Center (PPATK) are currently investigating a possible money laundering operation through three bank accounts belonging to the suspects.

The banks involved Panin Bank's branch in Medan, Bank Niaga's branch in Medan, Bank Mega's branch in Medan and DBS Bank in Singapore

Source: The Jakarta Post

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:13:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1064

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Fri Mar 6, 2009 1:19 pm
Subject: Brits looking for possible Madoff money laundering

akgunalp

Send Email

British fraud investigators are probing the activities of accused Wall Street scammer Bernard Madoff's London office for possible money laundering, a law enforcement source said yesterday.

The investigation is being carried out by the British government's Serious Fraud Office, one of a number of inquiries under way by that agency into Madoff's alleged $50-billion Ponzi scheme, said the source, who didn't want to be identified.

A spokesman for the SFO, which is empowered to investigate a wide range of financial crimes in Britain, didn't want to comment about the agency's Madoff investigations. The SFO put out a general statement in January saying it was looking into Madoff's actions in Britain after getting a report from a court-appointed liquidator.

Ira Sorkin, Madoff's defense attorney, declined to comment yesterday.

It is not unusual in cases such as Madoff's, involving international clientele and massive losses sustained by investors, for possible money laundering to be investigated. One British private investigator said money laundering statutes in Britain are similar to those in the United States, defining money laundering as attempts to hide the proceeds of crimes or disguise their illicit origin. Legal experts believe federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also looking at money laundering as a possible charge against Madoff.

Madoff Securities International Ltd. had offices in London's tony Mayfair section, not far from the U.S. Embassy. After Madoff was arrested in December, British regulators moved through the courts to put the London operation into liquidation.

The company is now going through proceedings in the London High Court to gather assets and close the company. British court documents said that liquidators are empowered to seek any funds held in accounts with Barclays Bank Plc or brokerage accounts at Barclays Capital.

U.S. investigators have said that in 13 years of activity there are no records that show any securities trading done by Madoff's investment service despite representations to thousands of investors that their portfolios were earning steady returns. U.S. investigators have alleged that Madoff's suspected Ponzi scheme floated billions of dollars through his companies.

Lee Richards, who served as a receiver for Madoff's overseas companies in connection with a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit, said in federal court filings last month that he was able to trace two transfers totaling $194 million from Madoff Securities International to Madoff's New York company last November.

Madoff, who remains under house arrest in Manhattan on $10-million bail, has a scheduled court date a week from today, when prosecutors must either indict him, announce a plea bargain or adjourn the case.

Source: News Day

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/06/2009 05:17:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1065

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Sun Mar 8, 2009 4:44 pm
Subject: India: “Beware the charity label for terror funding”

akgunalp

Send Email

Charities must be the first focus of any strategy to target the financial systems of terrorist organisations, U.S Acting Secretary of State Daniel Glaser said here.

While most charities were doing remarkable work, they were the “ideal vehicle” to raise and move funds as well as provide material support, Mr. Glaser said at the India Today Conclave.

Nothing should be done to dampen the charitable impulse of genuine organisations. But more charities than any other of organisation had been designated for supporting terrorists.

“This is no surprise, as most terrorist organisations openly advertise themselves as charities.”

Mr. Glaser recommended that the right balance be maintained between shutting down charities with terrorist affiliations and ensuring that humanitarian services continued to be provided. Also, an oversight mechanism should encourage transparency in their operations.
Join FATF

Apart from attending the conclave, Mr. Glaser is here to encourage India’s entry into an intergovernmental organisation on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Dominated in its initial years by the western world, the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) membership now includes Russia, China, South Africa and Brazil.

Previously, the FATF was an “obscure group” but now it was the “international trendsetter for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.” India, he said, should get a seat at the table for “some of the most important” international discussions on terrorist financing.

Following the recent Mumbai terror attacks, the United Nations Security Council designated the charity, Jamat-ud-Dawah (JUD), as a front organisation of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Significantly, one of the four key figures designated by the Security Council was its chief of finance.

India will host a regional conference next month on the abuse of charities. It will be attended by officials from Asian countries.

At the FATF, India is one of the two observers apart from South Korea and both are moving towards full membership. At the regional level, India is a member of Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, a FATF-type group.

Source: The Hindu

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/08/2009 09:44:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1066

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Sun Mar 8, 2009 4:48 pm
Subject: Organized Crime Embraces Film Piracy; Terrorists May Follow, Report...

akgunalp

Send Email

By Matthew Harwood

Film piracy by organized crime is flourishing worldwide, with some of the proceeds possibly financing terrorism, according to a new report from the RAND Corp. financed by the Motion Picture Association.

“If you buy pirated DVDs, there is a good chance that at least part of the money will go to organized crime and those proceeds fund more dangerous criminal activities, possibly terrorism,” said RAND’s Greg Treverton, the study’s lead author.

The criminal organizations that traffic pirated DVDs span the globe and often have multinational criminal connections. The report tells of one Italian crime boss turned government witness who explained the his organization's connection to Chinese and Taiwanese criminal gangs involved in film piracy and other acts of counterfeiting.

“Given the enormous profit margins, it’s no surprise that organized crime has moved into film piracy,” said Treverton.

The profits associated with film piracy are astounding, outperforming revenue generated from both Iranian heroin and Colombian cocaine. In Malaysia, a pirated DVD costs 70 cents to make and sells on a corner in London for $9, more than 1,000 percent markup.

The report also discusses three groups that have used film piracy to finance terrorism. The best-documented case involves the Irish Republican Army, which used film piracy among other criminal activities, to fund its terrorist campaign against the British government. Another case involves the D-Company, an Indian criminal group heavily involved in film piracy. In 1993, the group carried out a string of bombings on what became known as “Black Friday” in Mumbai, killing 257 people and wounding hundreds more.

The third example has the most relevance today.

In 2004, the U.S. government labeled DVD pirate and counterfeiter extraordinaire Assad Ahmad Barakat “a specially designated global terrorist” for transferring $3.5 million to Hezbollah. His criminal network operates within the heavily Lebanese tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, in what RAND calls “most important center for financing Islamic terrorism outside the Middle East.” (For more on the connection between Islamic extremism, terrorist financing, and the tri-border region, see John Barham's "Hezbollah's Latin American Home," from the Feb. 2008 issue.)

RAND notes the boom in film piracy is directly linked to weak penalties when someone is caught and convicted, which is rare.

An individual convicted of selling counterfeit products in France can expect a maximum of two years in prison and a $190,000 fine compared to ten years in prison and a fine of $9.5 million if caught selling drugs. In the United States, 134 people were sentenced to federal prison for intellectual property crimes in 2002, while 1.5 million people were arrested for drug offenses nationwide in 2003.

If governments worldwide want to decrease the volume of counterfeited goods and cut off a possible avenue of terrorist financing, RAND recommends spending more money and manpower to address the problem while passing tougher penalties for those convicted of counterfeiting and other intellectual property crimes.

Source: Security Management

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/08/2009 09:46:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1067

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Sun Mar 8, 2009 4:51 pm
Subject: Four arrested in FBI, ATF raid

akgunalp

Send Email

Money laundering, machine guns, and a neighborhood in lockdown as an army of federal agents storm a local house.

The search for evidence lasted all day and involved assistance from ATF agents and the bomb squad. News 3'sSteve Crupi reports that four men are now in custody, facing charges that include money laundering and the illegal possession of machine guns.

Gunther Circle, normally a quiet cul-de-sac near Charleston and Durango, was all abuzz as a raid was underway. Neighbors say they were stunned Thursday morning when the FBI and ATF swarmed their street and made an announcement directed at the people who were inside the house.

"(They were) screaming out 'this is the FBI - come out with your hands up or we will break down the doors,'" recalls one resident.

Police have confirmed that the 67-year-old owner of the home is one of the four men arrested. His neighbors say he is known by nearly everyone on the street for his angry rants against the government and his affinity for weaponry.

"(I) think I heard something about some hand grenades or something," says one neighbor. "(I've heard) that he has rifles and is kind of weird."

For ten hours, a thorough search of the house continued and bystanders watched as federal agents carried away multiple high-powered weapons. A bomb squad was present as well, but authorities would not comment regarding what evidence they have discovered.

Federal indictments unsealed Thursday afternoon describe a lengthy investigation into alleged check fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and weapons charges. One indictment chronicles an investigation involving well over $1 million-worth of cash.

The four suspects are expected to appear in federal court Friday.

Source: MSNBC

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/08/2009 09:50:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1068

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:20 am
Subject: The Economic Crisis: Al-Qaeda's Response

akgunalp

Send Email

By Richard Barrett
March 9, 2009

The deepening global financial crisis has focused international attention on failing companies, rising unemployment, and diving stock markets. Little attention, however, has been given to the downturn's significant effect on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, which has altered its central message and is facing dwindling financial resources. Although the economic situation has likewise affected government and private-sector counterterrorism efforts, steps can be taken to improve the current counterterrorism financing regime even in these troubled times.
Background

Al-Qaeda's immediate reaction to the financial crisis has been to claim credit for the economic misfortunes of the West. The group argues that today's financial problems are the consequences of the September 11 attacks and the cost of the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda leaders have always regarded the West's consumerism as a key vulnerability and have consistently espoused attacks against economic targets. Despite complaining that the Muslim world's resources benefit Western countries and their allies more than they do the Muslim community, terrorist leaders regard oil as the treasure of their future caliphate.

It was notable that both Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri issued statements encouraging attacks on oil refineries in the months before the failed attack on the Abqaiq oil-processing plant in Saudi Arabia in February 2006. Considering that Abqaiq is the largest facility of its kind in the world and represents 60 percent of Saudi Arabia's daily output, a successful terrorist attack there would have significantly disrupted global energy supplies. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement following the attack, stating that it was part of "the war against Christians and Jews to stop their pillage of Muslim riches."

Al-Qaeda's focus on economic targets will likely sharpen under the current economic conditions, prompting more strikes on oil facilities on land or against ships at sea -- a capability already demonstrated by the attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen in October 2002.

Changes in Message

Prompted by the financial crisis, al-Qaeda leaders also have begun reaching out to people facing economic hardship. Until now, al-Qaeda has appealed to the individual as a member of a community, but recent statements by al-Zawahiri and Abdulmalek Droukdel, the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, have tried to persuade individuals in financial difficulty that their personal hardship is the result of the West's exploitation. This change of emphasis -- from threat to the community to threat to the individual -- challenges a central tenet of al-Qaeda's message, which has until now always focused on an individual's duty toward God rather than to himself.

Al-Qaeda's Financial State

Al-Qaeda leaders, unlike their Taliban hosts who are heavily involved in the lucrative drug trade, do not currently have significant financial resources. (Their current financial state contrasts sharply with the situation before the September 11 attacks, when the annual al-Qaeda budget was between $20 and 30 million a year, of which several million went to the Taliban.) The financial crisis is most likely affecting the amount of donations al-Qaeda receives, as donor resources fall and requests from other supplicants increase.

Because of its tenuous financial state, al-Qaeda often asks for money. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, also known as Shaikh Said, whom the 9/11 Commission Report identified as al-Qaeda's chief financier, and who is now considered the head of al-Qaeda operations in Afghanistan, often makes direct appeals for donations. For example, in an interview in mid-2008, he stated that al-Qaeda had many potential suicide bombers but lacked the resources to equip them. Abu Yahya al-Libi, considered the principal religious authority in al-Qaeda, also often appeals for money in his statements, arguing that donating is a perfectly adequate and acceptable alternative to fighting.

Financial problems take a serious toll on al-Qaeda's ability to run its organization effectively. Even the group's leadership in the Afghan-Pakistani border area must pay for food, living quarters, accommodations for families of fallen comrades, and security, both in terms of hiring guards and in buying the silence of their neighbors. In addition, the leaders need money to recruit and train operatives and to mount operations.

Impact on Counterterrorism Efforts

Unfortunately, the financial crisis is also likely to have consequences for counterterrorism efforts. As official budgets come under increasing pressure, the huge investment in counterterrorism over the last seven years will probably decrease. Some governments may accept a greater degree of risk from terrorism in the face of the far greater risk of economic collapse. While redundancies in current counterterrorism precautions may allow for some cutbacks without a significant deterioration in protection, it will be important to avoid cutting those measures that are essential to thwarting terrorist attacks.

The private sector plays a pivotal, frontline role in countering terrorism financing, as well as in post-incident investigations. Banks know more about their clients than any other professional body: they know how, where, and when their clients get their money, as well as how, where, and when they spend it. Without bank cooperation, counterterrorism work would be far more difficult and less successful.

Nonetheless, the private sector also faces the danger of less-rigorous counterterrorism measures as a result of the financial crisis. Protecting personnel, buildings, and facilities completely is impossible, and the costs of trying to achieve such security are high. As a result, private enterprises may decide to lower their security standards as a way to save money. The financial sector is particularly problematic: not only must it physically protect staff and property, it also has to bear the added compliance costs relating to counterterrorism. These measures involve investments that show poor returns, and compliance staff cost money but do not bring in new business -- in fact, they are more likely to turn business away. In desperate times such as these, banks may therefore tend to see a double advantage to cutting back on compliance with government regulations on countering money laundering and terrorist financing.

Taking Advantage of the Crisis

To find some advantage in the financial crisis, government regulators should seek ways to work more closely with private financial institutions to ensure that they clearly understand terrorist financing and where it is likely to occur. Regulators should encourage these institutions to report suspicious activity by using well-informed, risk-based assessments rather than a mechanical application of the rules. This would save financial institutions money on compliance and reduce government expenditure by cutting back on the flow of unhelpful or irrelevant reports.

Al-Qaeda is looking to exploit the current crisis with its reshaped message, hoping to lure new recruits and raise funds to strengthen its organization. Ensuring that governments and the private sector remain focused on blocking al-Qaeda in this effort will be critical to our continued success in diminishing the threat that this dangerous organization poses to the civilized world.

Richard Barrett is the coordinator of the al-Qaeda, Taliban Monitoring Team, appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to support the UN Security Council's 1267 Committee.

Source: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/10/2009 01:17:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1069

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:17 am
Subject: Monitoring for money laundering, terrorism tightened

akgunalp

Send Email

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued a notification here taking tougher measures to monitor money laundering system and to discourage money transaction relating to terrorism.

According to notification, Central bank issued local banks special directives to be watchful of identity of clients before depositing and transecting money from their accounts.

Banks must ask for details over purpose of utilization of money for transaction over Rs.10,00,000 and for opening a proprietorship account, it added.

This is a stepping up measure against money laundering and issues relating to terrorism.

Source: Geo TV

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/10/2009 01:15:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1070

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:15 am
Subject: UAE bankers to tighten rules on money laundering

akgunalp

Send Email

A major banking conference titled "2009 - Crossroads for Trade and Technology", opens in Dubai today with a challenging agenda to finalise the revision of international rules for demand guarantees.

Organised by the International Chamber of Commerce at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the three-day event will be attended by more than 500 delegates.

The topics of discussion are anti-money laundering regulatory initiatives and forfeiting.

The delegates will also analyse a major ICC study on turmoil in the trade fin-ance markets, "Rethinking Trade 2009".

This study, based on the results of a survey held last month, is expected to form the basis of a case for preferential treatment of short-term trade finance transactions by global regulators.

"The world financial community's eyes are on Dubai as this major ICC Banking Commission Conference opens in the emirate today. The delegates, who will be finalising the revision of URDG, will come out with a series of recommendations on reducing the effects of the current financial situation," said Hamad Buamim, Director General of the Dubai Chamber.

This prestigious annual event, which was held in Athens last year, comes as part of the Dubai Chamber's mission to represent, support and protect the interests of the business community in Dubai and will help promote Dubai as an international business hub.

He said that it is the Chamber's top priority to facilitate business, especially in adverse situations.

Source: Gulf News

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/10/2009 01:13:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1071

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:13 am
Subject: Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg vow to fight money laundering

akgunalp

Send Email

Luxembourg's Minister for the Budget, Luc Frieden, yesterday warned a conference of Austrian, Swiss and Luxembourgish financiers that he fears being black-listed by countries considering them as tax havens.

Finance Ministers Josef Pr�ll from Austria and Hans-Rudolf Merz from Switzerland met their Luxembourg counterpart in a mini-summit ahead of the forthcoming G20 meeting.

The three countries have vowed to continue their practice of banking secrecy despite being viewed by others of being tax havens, which the three deny. However, they stressed that The banking secrecy should not be abused in order to hide illegal activities, and they vowed to continue the fight against money laundering, financing of terrorism and international tax fraud.

Source: Station

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/10/2009 01:12:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1072

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:17 pm
Subject: EU event for Turkish Cypriots

akgunalp

Send Email

On the Third Anniversary of the entry into force of the Financial Aid Regulation, the European Commission is organising a Reception together with Turkish Cypriot Counterparts and Beneficiaries. The event will take place at the EU Programme Support Office (38-44 Girne cad.) on 10 March 2009 at 17.30.

It is three years since the European Union Financial Aid Regulation for the Turkish Cypriot community entered into force. The aid programme includes a wide range of projects to help Turkish Cypriots to prepare to comply with EU standards and rules after reunification. In addition, the programme finances projects fostering reconciliation, confidence building measures, and support to civil society.

‘The European Commission was given € 259 million by the EU budgetary authorities in 2006 to implement the aid programme over a six year period. This is an enormous responsibility and a daunting challenge. Thanks to the hard work of my colleagues in Brussels and especially on the island, I believe we can say at this half-way stage that we are meeting that challenge – so far.’

Olli Rehn, Commissioner Responsible for Enlargement

* * *

FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT THE EU AID PROGRAMME FOR THE TURKISH CYPRIOT COMMUNITY

In three years the European Commission tendered € 160 million (60% of the programme) and contracted € 78 million (30% of the overall programme). To begin with, contracts were primarily for services. Now the main focus is on grants. In the coming months the bulk of contracts (by value) will be for works and supplies.

The Commission recently signed the first works contract worth € 2.6 million on the replacement of asbestos cement water pipelines and four supply contracts for the amount of € 2.2 million on the equipment for energy metering and reactive power compensation.

Some 50 service contracts were signed, the most substantial ones in the environment sector (e.g. study on rehabilitation of Lefke mining area and water/wastewater capacity building). Last month, a service contract was signed for setting up an Information Point in the northern part of Nicosia.

The Commission awarded different types of grants to Turkish Cypriot individuals and organisations. Thirteen contracts (around € 0.5 million) have been signed with primary and secondary schools, funding the study visits for teachers to schools in EU member states, computer and language laboratories, and special education equipment. Also, the Commission awarded 133 scholarships worth € 2 million to students and university teachers providing an opportunity to study for up to one year in another EU member state.

The Commission awarded 26 grant scheme contracts (€ 0.5 million) to Turkish Cypriot farmers for improving dairy hygiene on sheep and goat farms. In the labour market sector, 11 contracts (€ 0.5 million) have been signed with the purpose of training unemployed people and upgrading workers’ skills. Eighteen contracts are in the process of being signed to support civil society and 7 contracts to support people-to-people contacts.

The Commission has also been active in supporting civil society, reconciliation and confidence building measures; funding has been provided for the Committee of Missing Persons (€ 1.5 million; via UNDP), and for the de-mining of the buffer zone (€ 4 million; via UNDP).

Through UNDP, the Commission is also implementing €15 million of support to urban upgrading in the three major towns of Nicosia, Famagusta and Kyrenia and selected villages. The flagship restoration of the Bedestan will be completed in the middle of 2009.

An important component of the programme has been constituted by the TAIEX assistance to the Turkish Cypriot community. 832 experts from 26 EU member states have provided technical support in the areas of environment, rural development, public expenditures management, legal capacity, anti-money laundering, statistics and Green Line trade based on the Programme for the Future Application of the Acquis. Also, the Commission has organised 380 workshops and conferences, involving 2559 Turkish Cypriot participants.

Source: Financial Mirror

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/10/2009 07:14:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1073

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:33 am
Subject: Obama Stays The Course On Terrorist Financing

akgunalp

Send Email

by Ari Shapiro

In May 2007, al-Qaida released an interview with one of its leaders in Afghanistan.

The interviewer asks, "What are the needs of jihad in Afghanistan?" In the video, provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Sheik Saeed replies that the first need is financial. He goes on in Arabic, "There are hundreds wishing to carry out martyrdom-seeking operations, but they can't find the funds to equip themselves. So funding is the mainstay of jihad."

To people who fight terrorist financing, that video is proof of success.

As President Obama changes course on many national security policies, he has indicated that he plans to stay on the path charted by the Bush administration when it comes to tracking terrorists' money.

In January, he asked the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Stuart Levey, to remain on the job.

On Wednesday morning, a congressional committee will hold a hearing about a recent terrorism finance tracking program that teams up Treasury and Defense department officials.

Matthew Levitt used to work on terrorism financing at the Treasury Department. He recently authored a report for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, called "The Money Trail."

"If terrorists need money to do something, even if they only need a little bit of money but they can't get that money where and when they need it, you can have an extremely disruptive effect on their efforts to carry out attacks," Levitt says.

Broadly speaking, the U.S. has two ways to go after terrorist financing. Officials can start with a known bad guy and follow the money trail, or they can sift through millions of financial transactions looking for something suspicious.

The first model is not very controversial. In fact, many people are excited about a recent program that gives soldiers tools to follow terrorists' money.

"Soldiers in Afghanistan have been supplied with card readers. And that wouldn't have happened five or six years ago," says Andrew Cochran, founder and co-editor of the Counterterrorism Blog.

A soldier can scan a credit card found at the scene of a military raid. It might tell him who is in a terrorist financial network and how much money is in the account.

"When you think back to American wars, military action in the past from Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea, World War II, we didn't do that kind of thing," says Cochran. "There wasn't that kind of effort to determine the financing of Viet Cong guerrillas."

The second model of tracking terrorist money starts with financial institutions like banks. The banks give the FBI information about suspicious-looking transactions, and the FBI decides whether to follow up. Government officials defend this program, but not everyone is convinced it works.

Mike German spent 16 years at the FBI and now works for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Show me the evidence. Don't tell me an anecdotal story. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes," says German. "If you look at the data, what you see is this enormous increase in surveillance with a really startling drop-off in prosecutions."

Even people who support financial surveillance say it's hard to prove the program's effectiveness by looking at public data.

"I admit I've been out of government two years now," says former Treasury official Levitt. "I've been trying to come up with useful metrics to measure this, and I've failed miserably. So where we still are left today, and it's insufficient, is the periodic declassified anecdotes."

For example, the U.S. says it caught the mastermind of the attacks on Bali by tracing money. The British say they thwarted a bomb plot at Heathrow by tracking finances.

Dennis Lormel created the FBI's terrorist financing operations section after Sept. 11, and he now works for a consulting firm called IPSA International. He is convinced that the FBI's operations on this front have made a major impact on global terrorism, but he wishes there were better public statistics to show for it.

"It's one of the areas that is a rub," says Lormel. "The government needs to do a better job providing feedback mechanisms that demonstrate the value of the information."

After Sept. 11, banks spent a fortune to comply with laws like the USA Patriot Act. They hired outside consultants to make sure the banks reported every suspicious transaction. Since the economy went bad, banks have been laying those people off. Now Lormel is worried that terrorists will use that opportunity.

"You can rest assured that they're looking to adapt and be able to exploit new vulnerabilities," says Lormel. "Unfortunately, those new vulnerabilities are going to be out there. It's a troubling time, and it's a really scary time."

Source: NPR

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/11/2009 12:31:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1074

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:54 am
Subject: Madoff faces 150 years in alleged Ponzi scheme

akgunalp

Send Email

by ANTHONY M. DESTEFANO

Bernard Madoff, after being charged with 11 counts for allegedly running Wall Street's biggest Ponzi scheme, now faces up to 150 years in prison when he pleads guilty tomorrow, officials said yesterday.

Manhattan federal prosecutors unveiled the charges, as well as the 70-year-old's prospect of dying behind bars, during a court appearance in which the disgraced investment adviser told a judge that he wanted to keep his lawyer despite potential legal conflicts.

The attorney, Ira Sorkin, said Madoff intends to plead guilty to the charges tomorrow.

In disclosing the charges, prosecutors revealed that Madoff is accused of mail fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering in connection with a $50-billion Ponzi scheme that allegedly ran for more than 25 years. He is also charged with perjury, giving false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission and stealing from an employee benefit program.

"From at least as early as the 1980s through on or about December 11, 2008, Bernard L. Madoff, the defendant, perpetrated a scheme to defraud the clients of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Services by soliciting billions of dollars of funds under false pretenses," federal prosecutors said in charging documents.

"I think 150 years is in the right direction," said investor Burt Ross of Englewood, N.J. "When will he go to jail?"

The documents didn't spell out a specific amount of investor losses. But the charges noted that as of November, Madoff's clients received statements showing total balances in their accounts of $64.8 billion, when the amount was just a fraction of that. When he was arrested, Madoff allegedly told investigators his scheme totaled $50 billion.

The charges also indicate other unnamed Madoff employees took part in the alleged scheme by generating false account statements and trading tickets to show investment activity that didn't exist.

There wasn't information on Madoff's wife, Ruth, who is on the verge of being counseled by the law firm of former federal prosecutor Peter Chavkin, in court as a special counsel to advise Madoff on the conflict-of-interest issues involving Sorkin. Chavkin has cited that possibility in court.

Madoff, under house arrest after posting a $10-million bond, also diverted $250 million in client funds over a six-year period to fund the operation of his legitimate market-making activities, according to the documents.

Disclosure of the charges overshadowed the ostensible reason for the court hearing, which was the legal conflict of interest issue. On that point, Madoff, who had come to court wearing a protective vest, spoke publicly for the first time. Leaning against a table, Madoff for 12 minutes answered repeatedly with "Yes," and "Yes, I am," when asked by U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin if he understood or was aware of the nature of Sorkin's potential conflicts.

Sorkin had represented two men who were potential witnesses against Madoff, and his family members had prior investments with Madoff's company. Sorkin himself also at one point had about $60,000 in retirement money invested with Madoff, but took it out around 1993, court papers disclosed.

Prosecutor Marc Litt revealed Madoff hasn't signed an agreement with the government, indicating he would have to plead guilty to all charges and could face up to 150 years. "He is throwing himself at the mercy of the court," said a defense attorney not involved in the case who didn't want to be named.

Chin said sentencing would take place "several months" after any guilty plea.

THE CHARGES (With maximum prison sentences)

SECURITIES FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme out of his investment firm for more than 25 years. Penalty: 20 years

INVESTMENT ADVISER FRAUD

(1 COUNT) Alleges that as investment adviser, Madoff defrauded his clients for more than 25 years. Penalty: 5 years

MAIL FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff used the mail to perpetrate his fraud. Penalty: 20 years

WIRE FRAUD (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff used wire communication such as the telephone, faxes and computers to carry out his fraud. Penalty: 20 years.

INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff transferred funds from his business in New York to his offices in London and back again to carry out a fraud. Penalty: 20 years

INTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges Madoff transferred funds back and forth to Europe to disguise their nature as proceeds of a crime. Penalty: 20 years

MONEY LAUNDERING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff diverted more than $54 million from an employee benefit fund. Penalty: 10 years.

FALSE STATEMENTS (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff gave false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Penalty: 5 years

PERJURY (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff gave false testimony to the SEC under oath in 2006. Penalty: 5 years.

FALSE FILING (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff filed false documents with the SEC in 2007. Penalty: 20 years

THEFT FROM AN EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN (1 COUNT) Alleges that Madoff stole $10 million in funds from pension plans of 35 labor unions. Penalty: 5 years.

Sources: Federal court records, U.S. attorney's office

Source: NewsDay

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/11/2009 12:52:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1075

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:22 am
Subject: EU banks named in dirty money report

akgunalp

Send Email

PHILIPPA RUNNER

Europe's biggest banks are happy to do business with corrupt regimes in Africa and Central Asia, according to a new report by UK-based NGO, Global Witness.

As late as November 2007, Barclays in Paris held a private account for Teodorin Obiang, the study says. A scion of the ruling family in Equitorial Guinea, Mr Obiang in the past 10 years spent €4.5 million on sports cars even as 20 percent of children die before their fifth birthday due to poverty in the oil-rich country.

Until March 2007, BNP Paribas was involved in billions of euros of syndicated loans to the Angola ruling elite-linked oil firm Sonangol, Global Witness writes.

Deutsche Bank has still not made clear to the NGO what happened to the €2 billion or so in Turkmenistan's natural gas income, which it held for the country's notoriously cruel dictator, Saparmurat Niyazov, when he died in January 2007.

"The international banking system is complicit in helping to perpetuate poverty, corruption, conflict, human suffering and misery," the Global Witness paper says.

Coming ahead of the G20 finance summit in London on 2 April and in a climate of hostility to big bank secrecy caused by the financial crisis, the report calls for regulation of bank dealings with "PEPs" (politically-exposed persons) and a name-and-shame campaign by FATF (the Financial Action Task Force).

The Paris-based FATF is a little-known international anti-money laundering body with 34 members, including 15 of the richest EU states and the European Commission.

Of 10 EU states surveyed which are also FATF members, none complied with the body's full set of recommendations on issues such as making money laundering illegal or forcing banks to carry out enhanced due diligence on PEP-type clients.

Global Witness' paper, Undue Diligence, reads like a roll call of the most respectable financial institutions in Europe.

HSBC and Banco Santander are named in connection to the Obiang family. Credit Lyonnais allegedly helped Gabonese President Omar Bongo place funds abroad. Societe Generale is said to have done similar work for the ruling family of Congo-Brazzaville.

Fortis bank is accused of helping the former ruler of Liberia, Charles Taylor, fund conflict in east Africa by processing payments for government-linked timber firms.

The list of banks implicated in the Angola loans includes Commerzbank, KBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, ING and Standard Chartered.

"If [banks] cannot identify the ultimate beneficial owner of the funds ...and if they cannot identify a natural person (not a legal entity) who does not pose a corruption risk, they must not accept the customer as a client," the NGO said.

An article which appeared on 8 March on a Turkmenistan opposition website, the Chronicles of Turkmenistan, broadens the debate.

The story points the finger at French construction company Bouygues for allegedly giving current President Gurbanguly Berdymukahemmedov an €80,000 Mitsubishi Evolution X while bidding for contracts for a new airport building and palace complex.

Source: EUobserver

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/11/2009 04:20:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1076

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:28 pm
Subject: UK: HM Treasury warns businesses of serious threats posed to the in...

akgunalp

Send Email

This notice constitutes advice issued by HM Treasury about serious threats posed to the integrity of the international financial system. The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 require firms to put in place policies, procedures or systems in order to prevent money laundering or terrorist financing. Regulated businesses are also required to apply enhanced customer due diligence and enhanced ongoing monitoring on a risk-sensitive basis in certain defined situations and in "any other situation which by its nature can present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing".

On 25th February 2009 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a statement drawing attention to deficiencies in several jurisdictions of concern. The UK fully supports the work of the FATF on these matters and HM Treasury agrees with the FATF's assessments.

The UK additionally draws attention to, and supports, the public statement of MONEYVAL (a FATF style regional body under the auspices of the Council of Europe) of 12 December 2008 in respect of Azerbaijan.

The substance of the FATF statement is attached as an Annex.

Iran
The FATF announced that it remains concerned by Iran's failure to meaningfully address the deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing (AML/CTF) regime, particularly in respect of terrorist financing and suspicious activity reporting.

The FATF has called on its members to consider effective countermeasures to protect their financial sectors from risks emanating from Iran, and to protect against the use of correspondent banking relationships to bypass or evade counter-measures and risk mitigation practices.

All UK businesses regulated under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, whether financial institutions or other regulated persons should treat transactions associated with Iran as situations that by their nature can present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, and which therefore require increased scrutiny, enhanced due diligence, and ongoing monitoring, including in the case of correspondent relationships.

All other persons authorised by the Financial Services Authority should also take this advice into account in respect of their systems and controls to counter financial crime, and take appropriate actions to minimise the associated risks.

In the light of the call for countermeasures the UK is, in addition, considering what further action is required.

Uzbekistan
The FATF has also drawn attention to the continuing AML/CTF deficiencies in Uzbekistan.

The attention of UK financial institutions and other persons regulated for money-laundering purposes is therefore drawn to the FATF statement in respect of this jurisdiction, and the risk that it continues to present. They should take this advice into account in respect of their systems and controls to counter financial crime, and take appropriate actions to minimise the associated risks.

Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Sao Tome and Principe
The FATF has also drawn attention to the continuing AML/CTF deficiencies in Turkmenistan, Pakistan, and Sao Tome and Principe.

The attention of UK financial institutions regulated for money laundering purposes is therefore drawn to the FATF statements in respect of those jurisdictions, and the risks that they continue to present. They should take this advice into account in respect of their systems and controls to counter financial crime, and take appropriate actions to minimise the associated risks.

The northern part of Cyprus
The northern part of Cyprus is no longer highlighted as a jurisdiction of concern, following improvements made to its AML/CTF regime.

Azerbaijan
MONEYVAL drew attention to deficiencies in the AML/CTF regime in Azerbaijan in December 2008.

The attention of UK financial institutions regulated for money laundering purposes is therefore drawn to the MONEYVAL statement in respect of this jurisdiction, and the risks that it continues to present.

This advice is effective immediately.

Source: eGov

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/12/2009 07:25:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1077

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:37 pm
Subject: Liechtenstein Now Less Of A Tax Haven

akgunalp

Send Email

The Alpine principality will start helping other nations claw back missing tax revenues.

Timing is everything these days, especially for a tax haven like Liechtenstein. A day before finance ministers of the Group of 20 were due to meet to discuss new guidelines to stop tax evasion, one of the world’s favored destinations for such shenanigans said it would start helping other nations claw back their missing tax revenues.

The tiny Alpine principality said Thursday that it was dropping its distinction between tax evasion and tax fraud, an issue that has frustrated tax authorities in the United States and Germany because Liechtenstein previously insisted on only handing over data in cases of outright tax fraud.

It now says it has already begun “concrete talks” with other nations and was offering bilateral tax agreements in cases of tax fraud and tax evasion. "We are aware of our responsibility as part of a globally integrated economic area,” Prime Minister Otmar Hasler said. “With today's declaration, we are making our contribution to a joint solution that will make an effective enforcement of foreign tax claims possible.”

International organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have been lobbying for more transparency from tax havens like Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Luxembourg for many years now. But the crackdown has now reached a critical stage as governments around the world seek to tighten financial regulations to prevent another repeat of the credit crunch while desperately trying find new tax revenues.

France and Germany have already asked the OECD to prepare information on tax havens for the G-20 meeting in London on April 2. On Tuesday, France’s La Tribune reported that the OECD was adding Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Singapore and Hong Kong to its list of noncooperative tax centers, which already included Liechtenstein.

Stephen Platt, chairman of the BakerPlatt Group and specialist in anti-money-laundering, said that Liechtenstein’s move was “essential” to its ongoing survival. "It is simply untenable within this climate and this environment for centers to continue not to criminalize the laundering of the proceeds of foreign tax evasion," he said, adding that in the long term such rules were “unsustainable and not good for your reputation.”

But the international backlash against tax havens by governments and the G-20 may also be too indiscriminate, he said, because of the “very real and distinguishing” differences between them. While Liechtenstein is only now amending its laws on tax evasion, other offshore financial centers like Jersey and Guernsey already did so a decade ago; Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Singapore have not.

Meanwhile there is the other elephant in the room: banking secrecy. Liechtenstein seems keen to keep its rules in that area unchanged. "Our bank secrecy has always served to ensure the legitimate protection of the privacy of the citizen, which we will continue to retain,” Hasler said Thursday.

Platt believes that the G-20 nations are looking at tax evasion and banking secrecy as two related but distinctly important issues. “The criminalization of laundering of tax evasion is equally as important, [but] tax havens that do not address bank secrecy need to see it addressed,” he said.

Source: Forbes

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/12/2009 07:33:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1078

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Sat Mar 14, 2009 11:48 am
Subject: ‘Turkey successful in its fight against money laundering'

akgunalp

Send Email

Turkey's battle against money laundering has proven effective, said the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at a general assembly in Paris last month.

The Anatolia news agency reported that the FATF said Turkey was "moving in the right direction" in terms of implementing necessary regulations to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. In their previous report on Turkey released in 2007, the FATF said Turkey was still coming up short, having failed to meet most of the FATF's 49 recommendations, which together form a complete set of countermeasures against money laundering. The FATF said in 2007 that the judicial mechanism was not operating well in battling money laundering, noting that Turkey had failed to enact 33 out of the 49 recommendations. The country was granted a 22-month follow-up period during which it was to finalize the implementation of necessary regulations to this end.

In last month's meeting, the FATF said Turkey had reconciled its policies with at least 20 recommendations and granted the country another 12 months to fix the remaining shortcomings. Anatolia quoted a senior Turkish official at the meeting as saying that the FATF had reached a conclusion that Turkey was proceeding as expected in terms of the fight against money laundering and that is why they gave the country another 12 months.

"If the FATF had found Turkey inefficient in its efforts, then they would summon Turkey to another meeting within a few months to assess its latest position. However, there was no need for such thing; we are doing well and have one year to handle the remaining problems," the official noted.

The FATF also appreciated the efforts of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) against money laundering, underlining that the KKTC had established effective countermeasures against dirty money and had revised the laws governing the operations of banks and gambling houses in the country. Thus the KKTC is no longer under close inspection.

Meanwhile, the "wealth amnesty" program that allowed Turkish expatriates to bring in money held outside the Turkish banking system without being subjected to questions concerning the source of the funds was also reportedly discussed at the FATF meeting, where some members asked whether it was possible that the application would facilitate money laundering. Turkish officials informed the FATF that although the Turkish government does not inspect the source of the funds, it would be impossible for illegally acquired funds, such as drug money or money earned from terrorism or illegal arms sales, to be laundered through the wealth amnesty program since it is still subject to tax law, which makes the program reliable.

An intergovernmental body developing and promoting policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, the FATF was established in 1989. The institution currently has 34 members, and its evaluations are regarded with special importance by international bodies, including the United Nations.

Zource: TODAY'S ZAMAN

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/14/2009 04:47:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1079

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:37 pm
Subject: US tells Societe Generale to improve AML

akgunalp

Send Email

French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) on Tuesday agreed to beef up its anti-money laundering compliance policies at its New York branch, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday.

In an agreement with the Federal Reserve and the New York State Banking Department, SocGen agreed to designate an officer to coordinate written plans and policies to address "deficiencies" at the bank's New York branch..

The bank's board of directors also will review the effectiveness of its New York branch's governance and controls and then submit a report to bank supervisors of the findings, the Fed said.

With the help of an independent firm, the review will cover the period between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2008, regulators said.

Among changes to the program the bank agreed to controls designed to make sure compliance requirements apply to accounts for non-U.S. persons, the Fed said.

Source: Reuters

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:36:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1080

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:41 pm
Subject: U.S. says Iran increasing activity in Latin America

akgunalp

Send Email

Iran is increasing its activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, including actions aimed at supporting the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a top U.S. military commander said on Tuesday.

Navy Admiral James Stavridis, who oversees U.S. military interests in the region as head of U.S. Southern Command, also said Hezbollah was linked to drug-trafficking in Colombia.

"We have seen... an increase in a wide level of activity by the Iranian government in this region," Stavridis told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"That is a concern principally because of the connections between the government of Iran, which is a state sponsor of terrorism, and Hezbollah," he said.

The U.S. State Department lists the Lebanese-based political and military movement as a terrorist organization.

Stavridis said Hezbollah activities in South America have been concentrated particularly in the border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, but also in Colombia.

"We have been seeing in Colombia a direct connection between Hezbollah activity and narco-trafficking activity," the commander added, without providing specifics.

Colombia said last October that it had smashed a drug and money-laundering ring suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has denied links to drugs and money-laundering and described allegations as part of a propaganda campaign aimed at harming its image.

President Barack Obama's administration has sought to move toward dialogue with Tehran, despite sharp differences on several topics including Iran's nuclear program. Iran says it only wants to generate power while the Washington and its allies accuse Tehran of trying to build a nuclear bomb.

Stavridis is the latest U.S. defense official to express concerns about Iranian influence in Latin America, where the left-wing governments in Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia have all become allies of Iran in recent years.

In January, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the same Senate panel he was more worried about Iranian "meddling" than he was about Russia's activities in Latin America.

(Reporting by David Morgan, editing by Alan Elsner)

Source: Reuters

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:40:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1081

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:40 pm
Subject: Ex-Bangladesh PM son charged with money laundering

akgunalp

Send Email

Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday charged the youngest son of ex-premier Khaleda Zia with laundering more than 2.7 million dollars through bank accounts in Singapore, police said.

"The ACC has filed a case of money laundering against Arafat Rahman Koko. He is charged with laundering 2.8 million Singaporean dollars (1.8 million US dollars) and 932,000 US dollars in different accounts in Singapore," police official Salahuddin Akaze told AFP.

In December, Singaporean authorities froze assets worth 1.6 million US dollars associated with a company Koko established in 2004 after the Bangladeshi government asked them to launch an investigation.

More money linked with Koko, 36, has been found since then, Akaze said.

Koko was arrested in April 2007 on graft charges.

He is the younger of Zia's two sons and has a lower profile than his brother, Tareque, who is seen as his mother's political successor.

Both sons were arrested by the last army-backed government as part of its crackdown on corruption.

Koko, who has acute respiratory problems, left for Thailand in July, while Tareque, who his lawyers allege has a spinal injury after being tortured in custody, left for Britain in September.

Koko owns several companies and freight and transport vessels within Bangladesh and was a patron of the country's cricket board.

Zia's Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) did poorly in December 29 elections, winning only 29 seats out of a possible 300.

Source: AFP

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:39:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1082

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:36 pm
Subject: INDIA: State banks act to counter terrorist funding

akgunalp

Send Email

By Jayant Mishra

In order to ensure the loyalty of its customers and counter terrorist funding, the State Bank of India (SBI) has installed Anti Money Laundering (AML) software Amlock from 3i Infotech, an Indian software company.

Money laundering is the practice of disguising illegally obtained funds so that they seem legal. It can also refer to companies sending money offshore through accounting tricks to book profits there and avoid taxation.

The implementation was carried out in order to monitor the suspicious transfer of money and comply with AML measures. AML software will be implemented across the State Bank Group, consisting of SBI and its six associate banks - State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore - totalling more than 16,000 branches across the country.

B S Bhasin, chief general manager for banking operations and principal officer for KYC/AML, State Bank of India, said, 'State Bank of India is delighted to partner with 3i Infotech to implement AMLOCK, its Anti Money Laundering Solution. We at SBI are in sync with global awareness for matters related to anti money laundering, and this partnership is a step to have an efficient technology system to keep pace with the global changes and meet regulatory and statutory obligations.'

M B Battliwala, senior general manager of 3i Infotech, told IT Examiner that Amlock recognises the pattern of suspicious transactions and makes the monitoring process easy, removing the need to examine millions of transactions.

Battliwala, however, refused to disclose the contract amount, calling it confidential. However, he said the Amlock software only recognises the pattern and does not detect offenders.

In India, the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act was made effective on 1 July 2005. Section 3 of the Act describes the offence of money-laundering as covering those persons or entities who directly or indirectly attempt to indulge or knowingly assist or knowingly are party or are actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property.

Section 4 of the Act prescribes punishment to the offender, with a minimum imprisonment of three years which can be extended to seven years. The offender is also liable to pay a fine of Rs 500,000.

Source: ITExaminer

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:34:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1083

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:26 pm
Subject: Indirect funding to militants: Muhith smells a rat in some new NGOs

akgunalp

Send Email

Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday pointed his finger at some new NGOs launched during the rule of former BNP-led alliance government and said they might be behind the funding of militant groups.

Referring to such NGOs, he said there were some investments in the country that might not have directly helped the militants, but helped their patrons. "This is (new NGOs) other source of fund for militants."

"A lot of things can be uncovered looking deep into the activities of some new NGOs who got approval during the tenure of Mujaheed (Ali Ahsan Mohammed Mujaheed, Jamaat secretary general and former social welfare minister)," Muhith told reporters at the Finance Ministry amid claims by a minister that JMB militants were involved in last month's BDR carnage.

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, also coordinator of the probe bodies on BDR carnage, told the media recently that a link of JMB militants was found behind the February 25 BDR mutiny and mayhem.

"Let's try what we can do in this regard," said Finance Minister Muhith, in reply to a question about the measures the government was contemplating to stop such alleged financing of militants.

During the previous BNP-led 4-party alliance government, some 473 local and 25 foreign NGOs have been enlisted with the NGO Bureau. Of them, 129 local and eight foreign NGOs got enlisted in the fiscal 2006-07.

Since 1990, the NGO Bureau has approved 2,367 local and foreign NGOs who run on foreign funding.

Muhith said the immediate past caretaker government had taken some good initiatives to stop terrorist financing and money laundering and these should continue.

Besides, he said, Bangladesh Bank is trying to be a member of EGMONT Group, which deals with international financial intelligence, to exchange information on suspicious financial transactions.

"All these initiatives will facilitate preventing the terrorist financing," the Finance Minister said.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed on Wednesday said that the central bank has intensified monitoring on the suspicious transactions in the commercial banks to see whether there is any link of the transactions with the militants.

"We're examining the transactions afresh," he told reporters after attending a workshop on "Micro-insurance and Poverty" at PKSF Bhaban.

Besides, the governor said, Bangladesh Bank is also exchanging information with the institutions like Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to identify the suspicious transactions.

Source: The New Nation

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:24:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

#1084

From: Inonu Akgun ALP <akgunalp@...>
Date: Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:39 pm
Subject: What happened to the rush of anti-money laundering recruitment?

akgunalp

Send Email

by Paul Clarke

Ireland has been dragging its heels over the implementation of the 3rd EU Money Laundering Directive for some time now. However, with D-day expected sometime in the second quarter of this year, you would have thought that domestic institutions would start stocking up on staff in this area. Unfortunately not.

In October last year, Ireland was referred to the European Court of Justice for its delay in implementing the directive, which had a deadline of December 2007.

In anticipation of the law, financial firms in Ireland were recruiting anti-money laundering experts throughout 2008, but now it seems they’re unwilling to make many new hires.

“In the past quarter recruitment in this particular area has slowed down, as budgets are under increasing pressure and recruitment freezes are implemented,” says Suzanne Feeney, consultant in the legal and compliance division of Robert Walters.

Peter Oaks, director of Compliance Ireland, suggests that there’s been a “cautious increase in focus” on AML issues by domestic financial institutions who are weighing up compliance duties against keeping one eye on expenses.

“Because the Irish Financial Regulator doesn’t currently have the authority to take legal action over AML non-compliance, a lot of domestic institutions have not taken it as seriously as they possibly should. However, they have to get it right as the regulator will have those powers very soon,” he says.

The fact that the majority of Irish financial firms are finding it near impossible to get permanent headcount sign-off means that any AML hiring is currently being done on a contract basis, says Feeney.

However, Oaks suggests that they could be looking to cut corners even more.

“We’re finding that rather than taking on an anti-money laundering reporting officer, a number of firms are employing an administrator and then informing them that AML due diligence will be part of their duties,” he says.

Source: eFinancialCareers

--
Posted By Inonu Akgun ALP to AML-CFT at 3/19/2009 07:37:00 AM

Reply | Messages in this Topic (1)

Yahoo! Groups

Breaking News Visit Yahoo! News for the latest.

The Yahoo! Groups Product Blog

Check it out!

Group Information

Yahoo! Groups Tips

Did you know...

Messages