PEP ... PRESIDENTIAL AIDE RE-ARRESTED

Richard Sakala (UID 93827) aide to the previous Zambian president Frederick Chiluba (UID 674) was released from serving a three-year jail sentence for corruption only to be re-arrested this month on similar charges. This time he has been charged with abuse of authority and accused of allegedly selling houses in the Presidential Housing initiative in the capital, to a non-tenant. Sakala was at the time Chairman of the project. Meanwhile a special sitting of the British High Court will take place in November in Lusaka, featuring Salaka’s former boss Chiluba, who is accused of stealing tens of million of dollars of public funds. Chiluba is not allowed to leave Zambia, as he is also facing criminal charges at home.

COLOMBIAN DRUG KINGPIN ARRESTED

Orlando Sabogal Zuluaga (UID 241594), reportedly the second-in-command of the Colombian cocaine cartel 'Norte del Valle' (UID 472307) was last month captured by Spanish authorities, on the outskirts of Madrid . The US Narcotics Rewards Program had offered a reward of US$5 million for Zuluaga's capture. The Norte del Valle cartel is believed to have been responsible for approximately 50% of global cocaine traffic, its US trade alone is reported to have netted the cartel more than 10 billion dollars over the last decade. Once again World-Check provided a 'red flag' on a heightened risk individual, as Zuluaga was profiled by World-Check in July 2004 that is more than two years ahead of OFAC listing him.

ASIAN MONEY-LAUNDERING OPERATION EXPOSED

Australian authorities have arrested a number of suspects in a multi million-dollar money laundering operation involving the Vietnamese Huynh family. The Huynh’s own the Long Thanh Money Transfer businesses in the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne. In June a Vietnam Airlines pilot Dinh Dan Tran (UID 458008) was arrested after it was found he had been illegally carrying Aus$500,000 for the Huynhs. This month authorities struck at the Huynh’s money transfer businesses in both cities and arrested nine people. It is reported they are suspected of laundering an estimated Aus$93 million for crime syndicates in the last year. The main suspect Hang Thanh Huynh (UID 508346), was ordered to pay Aus$1 million bond and her brother, Phat Ba Huynh (UID 508347) Aus$500,000, they are due back in court in July 2007. Go to Long Thanh Money Transfers (UID 508344) and click on Display Graph, all the suspects will then be revealed.

SFO RAID ARMS BROKER'S PREMISES

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is reported to have carried out raids on businessman John Bredenkamp’s (UID 54167) British premises. The SFO is conducting an ongoing investigation into suspected corruption surrounding government defence contracts involving BAE Systems (BAE). Bredenkamp has an interest in the company Aviation Consulting Services which is reportedly the BAE agent in Southern Africa. World-Check profiled Bredenkamp in 2002, after he was named in a UN report probing arms dealing irregularities in the DRC. Bredenkamp has also been associated with high-ranking members of the Zimbabwean Government. In late 2004 Zimbabwe’s ruling party reportedly pointed the finger at him alleging he had bribed provincial executives, during the nomination of party leaders. This year he was involved in some citizenship issues with Zimbabwe authorities. World-Check monitors all major regulatory and enforcement lists including the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

These articles are designed to educate and protect our readers, many of whom are MLROs and compliance officers at the world's financial institutions, which are exposed to reputation damage. Our job is to identify emerging threats, so that readers can take appropriate steps to interdict them on a real-time basis, and thus mitigate or eliminate reputation damage. …read more

Samir Azzouz (UID 259087) is appearing in court for the third time regarding plotting terrorist acts. His first two court appearances ended in acquittals, but now Dutch authorities armed with fresh evidence, have put him and four others on trial in Amsterdam. They are accused of planning to attack top politicians and the headquarters of the Dutch intelligence service. One of his co-accused Nouredine El Fatmi (UID 306047) has already been convicted of being a member of the outlawed Hofstad group (UID 262020) and is serving a five-year jail sentence. World-Check researchers are monitoring progress in the trial and updating profiles as the story unfolds.

Muhammad Salah(UID 247094 ) and Abdelhaleem Ashqar (UID 7322) are this month appearing in a New York court after being charged in a four-count racketeering indictment. Salar and Ashgar are accused of supplying money and recruits for a terrorism campaign aimed at toppling Israel's government. Also charged in the indictment and currently a fugitive is Dr Mousa Abu Marzook (UID 7240) described by federal officials as the deputy chief of the political section of Hamas. Marzook goes under a number of aliases, and appears on numerous sanction and enforcement lists. World-Check has a new search functionality which allows users to restrict a search to one, several or all official lists. Yet another useful enhancement to our Online service to make due diligence and compliance procedures more effective.

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed (UID 50117) was this month freed from house arrest by a Lahore court. He is the founder of the banned terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba, who he insists he left in 2001. He then founded an Islamic charity Jamat-ud-Dawa, but the USA believes this charity is involved with terror funding. Check out the terror group’s profile (UID 40613) to see the connections.

Mohammed Afsal (UID 49577) was scheduled to hang this month for his part in supporting and conspiring to attack the Indian Parliament in Delhi in December 2001. The Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group member had already had his appeal against the sentence dismissed by the Supreme Court, his new date with death was set for October 20th, but a mercy petition was filed. To find out his fate check out his profile.

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