Happy New Year to all our World-Check users. You can expect more hard-hitting commentary and analysis articles in 2008, as well as additional emphasis in trade-craft, the actual techniques utilised by financial criminals. Feel free to e-mail your questions and comments to me at kr@world-check.com.

More than 3000 Palestinians returning to Gaza from their annual Hajj, or Pilgrimage, to Mecca, have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the border, due to their refusal to pass through the Israeli-controlled Aouja Crossing, where they can be searched for cash and weapons seeking illegal entry. They have requested to enter the Palestinian Territory via the Rafah Crossing, but since European Monitors abruptly abandoned their posts in June, after Hamas took control of Gaza, there is no means of interdicting bulk-cash smuggling (which is a violation of Palestinian Anti-money Laundering laws) to Hamas, a global terrorist organisation designated by OFAC on 24 January, 1995. Israel also fears that suicide bombers, wanted criminals, and major terrorist leaders will use this opportunity to covertly enter Gaza.

Were individuals in high office in Argentina involved in the Antonini incident, and was there an attempt at a cover-up? Some of the answers are beginning to appear, as we learn more about the passengers who were on board the now-notorious private jet that landed at Buenos Aires' Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, but the roles played are confusing. For example, if this is Watergate, how can the person who is the scandal's equivalent of "Deep Throat" also be its Monica Lewinsky? Clearly, one cannot tell who the players are without a scorecard. Today we will attempt to unravel one of the most mysterious of the characters, and explain the significance of her close association with three persons of importance.

For those readers interested in knowing whether the World Tour will be coming to their area in 2008, we list hereunder the regions currently planned for a visit. Not all are confirmed, and there will be additions, but we wanted to give you a heads-up in advance. See below for details.

Note well that Monday, the last business day of the year, will see the usual frantic bank client activity, to complete transactions, take care of outstanding payables, and meet deadlines. The high volume can also mask financial crime, which loves to hide amongst the legitimate traffic. Monday you need to be on high alert for international funds transfers, which may cleverly masquerade as a number of clean-looking operations, but are in reality just smart eleventh-hour money laundering tactics. Let us look at what you might see.

The publicity and fallout surrounding the Antonini Venezuelan-Argentinian money laundering scandal has forced money managers handling criminal drug profits to modify their operations. Inasmuch as they now correctly fear that their illicit funds may be frozen in the United States, much of the new money entrusted for laundering is now being sent to financial institutions located in Western Europe. An increase in enquiries received from compliance officers and bankers relating to new Venezuelan clients confirms that the new destination for a large percentage of Colombian narcoprofits, much of which first transits Venezuela, is Europe. Ensure that this dirty money is not placed in your bank, for subsequent drug trafficking and money laundering indictments in the United States could result in severe reputation damage, or even willful blindness allegations, against the bank.

Are senior officers of major Russian companies individual clients of your bank or broker-dealer? If so, have you enquired into whether they are classified as PEPs, either under the traditional FATF definition, or by a more loosely-defined classification? Let us examine the unique Russian structure. You are warned that the element of risk is substantially higher for certain of these individuals.

The second suspicious death, within a month, of a banker from VTB, has occurred in Moscow. Alexandetr Funin, age 43, was found dead in his apartment in the southwestern section of the city. On 6 December, VTB managing director, Oleg Zhukovsky, was found dead in what appeared to be a contract killing. Funin was described as a "senior expert" within the bank, but his title has not yet been disclosed. Is this another indicator that the days of assassination and contract murders of senior bankers have returned to Russia?

Several reputable sources are reporting that the government of Venezuela has paid the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC, the sum of $500m, ostensibly to secure the release of three hostages held by that designatied terrorist organisation. The FARC, organised in 1964 as the military arm of the Colombian Communist Party, currently is illegally holding approximately seven hundred individuals captive, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three American defence contractors, and many Colombian military and police officers, under inhumane concentration camp conditions. It has also kidnapped approximately two hundred Venezuelans, as an important part of its terrorist fund-raising activities. The circus surrounding the Colombian prisoner release, which involves both Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and former Argentinian President Nestor Kirschner, appears to be intended to distract the public in both countries from the Antonini money laundering scandal, which has become the Watergate of Latin America.

Israel Discount Bank has quietly disclosed that its total compliance costs for the period 2005-2007 could be as high as US$46m. This estimate, buried in its Third Quarter 2007 Financial Statement, shows the true cost of state and Federal regulatory actions brought against the bank in New York for alleged anti-money laundering deficiencies. Often, the costs of implementation of AML programmes required by regulators exceeds the actual fines and penalties imposed against the bank. Whilst financial institutions prefer not to broadcast the details of these costs, as they may reveal the true depth of the AML deficiencies found by regulators, they generally show up in obscure filings, and are often spotted by banking analysts.