PEP ... FORMER LIBERIAN MINISTERS ARRESTED

Lusinee Kamara (UID 7934) the Minister of Finance during the Liberian Transitional Government’s (NTGL) tenure, his deputy Tugbeh Doe (UID 539988) and the former minister of Commerce Samuel Wlue (UID 342031) were all arrested this month. All are named on the ECOWAS audit report on corruption and are the first to have been arrested. It is possible that further arrests and charges will be made in the coming months. Kamara has been in the World-Check database since 2000 as a heightened risk individual due to his PEP status. During last month World-Check’s research team updated over 17,000 profiles and created 18,000 new ones, ensuring our users are up-to-date and warned of risk.

FRAUDULENT INVESTMENT SCHEME DISCOVERED

Japanese company Kinmirai Tsuushin Inc (UID 536232) an Internet protocol (IP) telephone service provider had its offices raided early in December after failing to pay out promised dividends to investors. It is reported that the company guaranteed generous dividend payouts to purchasers of telephony relay stations, but payments ceased in October and the company shut down. Senior executives have resigned and the whereabouts of the company president Masaru Ishii (UID 536231) are currently unknown. Police suspect the company was a sham and has defrauded investors out of approximately 40 billion yen.

TELECOMS EXECUTIVE ACCUSED OF BRIBING OFFICIALS

Christian Sapsizian, (UID 261217) former Latin America Director of French telecommunications giant Alcatel, is accused of arranging payoffs to governmental and enforcement officials in Costa Rica. Reportedly bribes were also paid to former Costa Rican president Miguel Angel Rodriguez (UID 2816). In addition Sapsizian is suspected of keeping over US$350,000 for himself. He was arrested in Miami in August 2006 and made his first US federal court appearance this month, where he was ordered to pay bail of US$525,000. Sapsizian, is due to be arraigned later this month. To keep up to date with developments as the story unfolds use our News-Check functionality which trawls hundreds of thousands of news sources.

A bank accepts an incoming wire from the Caribbean; the client says it was a settlement with a Latin American governmental agency, and he quickly moves the funds to a European bank, The bank subsequently learns from a news article that the client committed fraud in his home country. What's wrong with this picture? I find two major issues of compliance malpractice in this fact pattern. …read more

Samir Azzouz (UID 259087) an alleged member of the Hofstad Network was this month sentenced to 8 years imprisonment for involvement in planning attacks on politicians and the Netherlands intelligence service (AIVD). A further three people were on trial with Azzouz; Soumaya Salah (UID 511314) Nourridine El Fatmi (UID 306047) and Mohammed Chentouf (UID 512181). Salah received three years and the other two received four year sentences for their involvement in terror activities. Azzouz was in the World-Check database two years prior to his sentencing. World-Check contains many categories of high and heightened risk individuals, such as terrorists, narcotics traffickers, fraudsters and those associated to organized crime to name but a few.

PHILIPPINES ARREST ‘MOST WANTED’

Feliciano Delos Reyes (UID 539075) was arrested by Philippine security forces earlier this month on the island of Basilan. Reyes is wanted in connection with the bombing of a ferry near Manila in 2004. He is a member of the terrorist group Rajah Solaiman Movement (UID 371027).

Earlier this month Mohammed Ayub (UID 520931) and his brother Abdullah (UID 520930) were unconditionally released from jail by Yemeni officials. The brothers are the sons of Abdul Rahim Ayub (UID 183709) who allegedly formed a Jemaah Islamiyah cell in Australia in the 1990s. The Ayub’s had been arrested in October and accused of links to Al-Qaeda and also of gun-running to Somalia. A third suspect Marek Samulski (UID 521078) who was arrested at the same time, remains in custody in Sana’a.. To reveal the network of family and linked associates use the unique Graphic Display feature and print out the result for a record of due diligence.

Simon Trinidad (UID 215077) aka Juvenal Ovidio Pineda Palmera as he appears on the OFAC watch list, is not only a member of the terrorist group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) but he is also a specially designated narcotics trafficker kingpin as per the US Treasury list. He was arrested in Ecuador in January 2004 and extradited to the US that December. In his native Colombia, Palmera has already been sentenced to several prison terms, The US put him on trial in October this year for allegedly plotting to kidnap US nationals after their plane crashed in Colombia. In November the US court trying Palmera declared a mistrial as the jury had been unable to reach a verdict. Palmera however, remains in custody and is likely to go on trial on other charges.

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