DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock
All the articles covering the dismissal of the corruption charges pending against General Augusto Pinochet's family and close associates in Chile have ignored one important aspect of the case; that it was corrupt bankers in the United States who enabled the late dictator to set up accounts in fictional names, and to use companies formed in offshore financial centres. No American banker has ever been charged for aiding and abetting Pinochet and his associates in hiding the reported $25m, and many of those bankers remain in the industry today. How were those bankers able to acquire those offshore companies? They did it by lying to the lawyers they hired to form those corporations.
- American bankers acting covertly on behalf of Pinochet engaged what is probably the premier banking law firm in the Republic of Panama, Aleman, Cordero, Galindo & Lee. They retained the firm to form companies in the British Virgin Islands and the Bahama Islands, specifically for the banks themselves, and failed to disclose the most important fact: that the beneficial owner of these companies was to be the former dictator.
- The lawyers performed their professional duties as requested, had no further business either with these companies, or the individuals who were operating and managing them. When the Pinochet scandal broke, years later, Chilean government prosecutors sought corporate information from the Aleman Cordero firm, and there were hints tossed about that it was somehow culpable in hiding Pinochet's ill-gotten gains. The lawyers never knew that Pinochet was the beneficial owner
- You will notice that no Chilean charges were ever filed against the Aleman Cordero law firm. Those allegations quickly disappeared when Chilean investigators learnt that the actual clients for those offshore companies were understood by the law firm to be the banks, and not clients . The law firm was cleared of all involvement, but the Chilean press curiously never reported it.
This is an illustration of why lawyers need to obtain absolute proof of beneficial ownership of companies that they form, even from institutional clients, because there may be unethical or amoral individuals amongst bank staff who are conspiring with criminal elements to launder illicit cash.
Certain Private Bankers in particular, eager to please their affluent clients in a high competitive industry, often engage on rendering services that verge on money laundering and a host of other felonies. Criticise and indict them, and not the lawyers from whom they hide the dark truth about the client's identity,
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
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