UNCOVERING RISK..........................
STAY VIGILANT - ARE THESE YOUR CUSTOMERS?
The man from Odessa
Born in Odessa, Ukraine, Leonid Minin, now holds Israeli citizenship and passports from Germany, the Russian Federation, Bolivia and Israel. He is a crony of Victor Bout and also, like Bout involved in arms trafficking in Africa. He was arrested in Italy but in 2002 was released by the Italian Court of Cassation as Italy was not in a position to investigate arms trafficking which had taken place in other countries. World-Check profiled him in September 2002, that is nearly two years before he was added to the OFAC list in July 2004. He has numerous aliases. Can you be sure he isn't one of your clients through one of his offshore companies? To get more information on him look at his profile UID 32512.
Mercenary with powerful connections
A radical Islamic, born in Senegal, Ibrahim Bah is another who made his name in arms trading in Africa. In 2001 he was recommended to be expelled from Liberia by the UN Security Council. As a mercenary he fought in Afghanistan. He joined Hizbollah in the 1980s. Libya became his home. Between 1991-97 he fought for the NPFL in Liberia. He is reported to have been instrumental in a deal between Al Qaida operatives and the former Liberian President Charles Taylor involving illicit diamonds. He denies involvement, but there is no denying he has contacts in the right places. World-Check profiled him in 2002, you might be alarmed to know that OFAC still has to add him to their sanctions list even though he appears on other regulatory lists.
Across border trafficking
Armando Martinez Duarte - a member of Mexico's most violent narcotics trafficking cartel the Arellano Felix Organization (UID 232092) whose revenues, it is alleged, run into hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The cartel operates out of Tijuana, across the US border with San Diego. In July 2003 World-Check profiled him and his associates but his name didn't appear on the OFAC list for another 16 months. Take a look at his profile UID 173531 to see his connections.
World-Check ahead of the rest
Adel Abdul Jalil Baterjee, Saudi Arabian, founder and president of Benevolence International in the 1980's.His cousin is Shahir Abdulraouf - officer and director of Benevolence International. Adel is also chairman of a Saudi charity, the World Assembly of Youth (WAMY) - the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation into terrorist association. He is believed to have involvement in Afghanistan and to be a personal associate of Osama Bin Laden. If you are a World-Check subscriber the good news is in November 2002 he was on the World-Check database over two years before he appeared on the OFAC warning list in December 2004. World-Check's KYC intelligence would have warned you he was high risk well ahead of the rest. Check his profile - UID 87896.
World-Check Provides a Free Filter
World-Check, the leading provider of structured intelligence on known heightened-risk individuals and businesses, now has available a free, easily-downloadable filtering application. This user-friendly application allows small financial firms, law offices and other small businesses to automate the screening of their clients.
The filter, named Pythagoras, is immediately available to World-Check Data File users.
“World-Check knows many smaller customers wish to move away from manual client checking and towards automated screening,” said David Leppan, CEO and Founder of World-Check.
“Many of those institutions – including law firms, trusts
and foreign bank branches – simply do not have sufficient financial
or IT resources to deploy the automated solutions now required by regulators.
The World-Check filter enables these smaller institutions to adopt the
same processes
run by the largest financial institutions in the world.”
Over the last 18 months, severe fines have been levied against members
of the financial industry, making the move to automated screening a critical
consideration for all smaller entities that
currently perform manual screening.
World-Check’s filter, created in conjunction with Swiss compliance
software developer Antax AG, is a complete compliance risk management
solution built around client information.
Adapted to meet World-Check’s specifications for ease of use, Pythagoras quickly downloads, self-installs, and requires Minimal user training and IT support. Pythagoras allows users to follow five simple steps, including filtering their customer base, analyzing the results and documenting the results – all within minutes of installation. The filter, which updates automatically with a single mouse click, can operate on a single stand-alone PC.
To read more go directly to World-Check's press release area.
"The Basel Committee's interest in sound KYC standards originates from its concerns for market integrity and has been heightened by the direct and indirect losses incurred by banks due to their lack of diligence in applying appropriate procedures. These losses could probably have been avoided and damage to the banks' reputation significantly diminished had the banks maintained effective KYC programmes."
Basel Committee Guidelines
More than 1083 institutions and government agencies in more than 120 countries rely on World-Check for KYC risk reduction intelligence.
For more information and frequently asked questions please visit our website by clicking here.
