Readers that are at the Florida International Bankers Association Money Laundering Conference in Miami this week please note that I am presenting there tomorrow, Thursday, at 7 AM, in the Chopin Ballroom, Hotel InterContinental. Details are available on the World-Check website.

Reliable Washington sources report that the Treasury Department of the United States, and other government agencies, whilst searching for assets held in financial institutions in connection with the ongoing Global War on Terrorism, have identified billions of dollars of laundered funds worldwide, all secreted by key senior Venezuelan government officials, a few military officers, and a large number of Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), for their own corrupt use and benefit, and for that of designated global terrorist organisations, on the express orders of President Hugo Chavez. The US now reportedly intends to officially name Venezuela as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and seize all the hidden overseas accounts it has located. Miami banks alone hold several billion dollars of illicit money, and accounts have also been identified in places like China, Andorra, and Panama, and most of the major offshore financial centres. The funds rightfully belong to the people of Venezuela, as they were looted from government accounts, taken as bribes and kickbacks, and earned from narcotics trafficking activities aided and abetted through illegal governmental involvement. The other individuals targeted in this investigation are members of the Bolivarian Elite, a group of businessmen close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias, and his family, and whose aim is to keep his corrupt regime in power. These Bolivarians have earned obscene amounts of money through corrupt government contracts, outright theft of government assets, and favoured transactions that have resulted in their acquisition of major assets that rightfully belonged to the Republic of Venezuela. The individuals involved will most likely face money laundering charges in the United States, which carry a 20-year sentence of imprisonment, terrorist financing charges, even potential Racketeering (RICO) counts, though this entire scenario, which has effectively destroyed the Venezuelan economy, was ordered, planned and engineered by President Chavez, as a part of his misguided Socialist economic agenda. Will he be indicted, as other heads of state of countries that border the Caribbean have? Only time will tell.

Last week a section of the US Embassy in Belgrade was attacked and burned by Serbian nationals unhappy with America's support for the unilateral declaration of independence of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo. Inasmuch as the last time a US Embassy was invaded in this matter, it was Iran in 1979, one should expect an American reaction in the financial sector, especially since it was reported that Serbian police let the destruction occur. Since our task at World-Check includes risk assessment of emerging threats, it is in order to consider the potential consequences of the attack as it may affect international financial institutions.

To assist those readers who have remarked that they are often forced to choose each Monday between reading the latest chapter in Confessions of a Money Launderer, and replying to their massive e-mail inbox, we have moved the introduction of each new chapter to Wednesday. Watch for it.

As I pointed out years ago, non-transparent financial centres that accept international clients seeking to evade taxes in their country of origin should worry about onshore law enforcement agencies and whistleblowers using criminal tactics to obtain confidential information. Where is it written that a powerful law enforcement agency from Europe or North America will not stoop to accept the fruits of a criminal act, committed elsewhere, in order to get evidence critical to the conviction of their targets? If a financial institution chooses to stonewall other countries' policemen who seek information on their own citizens' financial activities, bribing bank staff or even committing outright theft of proprietary information is always on the table. After all, what will the tax haven banks do, sue one of the world's most powerful governments? Does the end justify the means when you cannot achieve justice without the government itself breaking the law of other countries who enable money laundering and tax evasion?

A twenty-four year old unidentified man was arrested at the US-Mexico border this week, after inspectors found $249,000 hidden under his Ford F-150 pickup truck. Curiously, he was seeking to move this cash into, not out of, the United States. Looking at all the recent attention being paid to Mexican money service businesses that transfer dollars into the US, one may deduce that all the law enforcement heat on MSBs in Mexico has made crude bulk cash smuggling methods safer in the eyes of some money launderers. Compliance officers at financial institutions in American cities that border Mexico, please advise your staff accordingly. Have you seen any increase in cash deposits lately?

HM Revenue & Customs, more commonly known as HMRC, has notified Accounting Service Providers, called ASPs, that there will be a register for this class of professionals, commencing 1 April. Note that APSs already supervised by some other regulator listed in the 2007 Money Laundering Regulations must re-register and this must be accomplished by 1 October. Applications must be in by 1 July, to allow timely processing by 1 October.

The Procuraduria General de la Republica, Mexico's Attorney General, has seized 103 fixed-wing aircraft and three rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters) in Culiacan, Sinaloa State, in an anti-money laundering operation. The owners of these suspect aircraft were unable to provide the authorities with legal proof of ownership. Were these aircraft linked to Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman?

The long-anticipated, unilateral declaration of independence by the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, whilst a textbook example of a peoples' right to self-determination, may unfortunately result in increased ethnic violence and unrest involving the Serb minority. For EU money laundering reporting officers and compliance officers, vigilance is in order with respect to the possibility that financial criminals in the area may seek to take advantage of the chaos to practise their dark professions. Money launderers in particular may target the new opportunities that are presented. Watch for this.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control has named indicted Colombian drug trafficking leader Carlos Mario Jimenez Naranjo, a/k/a/ Macao, as a Specially Designated narcotics trafficker, along with seven of his affiliated companies and seven individuals in his financial network. Jimenez, wanted to answer to US criminal charges in the District of Colombia and South Florida, in reported to be in Colombian law enforcement custody, awaiting extradition. Compliance officers with clients who do business with Colombian corporations should review the list of related corporate entities and front-men listed. See below for the actual OFAC/Treasury notice. You are also directed to Jimenez' World-Check Profile, which first appeared in 2004.