FROM A
DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock
Financial Crime Consultant, for World-Check
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1 - 10 of about 53 for November 2006
1.
US government agencies are unofficially stating that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro Ruz has terminal stomach cancer. Bearing in mind that many obscenely rich Cuban PEPs, including the Castro family, have reportedly hidden literally billions of dollars in Switzerland and elsewhere, are these funds about to be moved to quieter tax havens ? And will they transit your bank en route ?
2.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN, has identified the US domestic limited liability company, or LLC, as the premier shell company financial crime and money laundering vehicle today. The agency has published a White Paper entitled " The Role of Domestic Shell Companies in Financial Crime and Money Laundering : Limited Liability Companies. " The report points out that 47 of the US states do not require the identification of LLC members.
3.
The political crisis that exists this week in the Republic of the Fiji Islands may cause money launderers operating there to seek to take advantage of the chaos, and to transfer illicit assets out of, or through, that troubled nation. Compliance officers in the Asia-Pacific region should carefully examine large funds transfers originating from, or transiting, Fiji, until such time as coup fears recede, and the unrest subsides.
4.
Allegations that Hezbollah has been training the radical Mahdi Army of Iraq for battle, and that the Mahdi Army sent troops to fight in this summer's war with Israel, further complicates the dangerous financial landscape that Lebanese compliance officers must navigate. Are your bank's funds transfers to or from Iraq acts of terrorist financing ?
5.
The Cato Institute, a non-governmental organisation located in Washington, D.C., has published an important white paper entitled " Corruption, Mismanagement and Abuse of Power in Hugo Chavez' Venezuela." the author, Gustavo Coronel, is a former director of PdVSA, Venezuela's petroleum agency, and also the former Venezuelan representative to Transparency International.
6.
The Transport Committee of the European Community has approved a draft proposal to replace the 110 different types of driving licences and permits in use in the 25-member EU with a single driving permit. This is welcome news for European compliance officers for various reasons.
7.
Konstantin Meshcheryakov, the co-owner and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of SpetssetstroiBank was assassinated this week in what the prosecutor's office has described as a contract killing. The bank, which is privately owned, has offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
8.
A Muslim-American charity operated by Americans of Iraqi origin this week sued a major US bank for discrimination, and to have Section 314 (b) of the USA PATRIOT Act declared unconstitutional. The charity, Life for Relief and Development, a California non-profit, brought the suit in US District Court in Michigan, against Comerica Bank, where the charity had several accounts.
9.
Exactly how does one launder criminal profits through hedge funds ? A basic question that deserves a straight answer, particularly since hedge funds have been deemed by US courts to be outside the jurisdiction of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), and their current holdings exceed $1,000bn.
10.
A controversial US government study has estimated that anti-government insurgents in Iraq are raising between $ 70m and $200m annually through illegal activities, and that much of this is accomplished with the assistance of corrupt Iraqi PEPs. This income sustains insurgent operations throughout Iraq through widespread crime.

1 - 10 of about 53 for November 2006
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