20080730 Digest re WMLR Vol 8 No 8

 

World Money Laundering Report: Digest

30 July 2008

Citation: World Money Laundering Report Digest Vol. 8 No. 8

*In World Money Laundering Report Volume 8 Number 8*

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WMLR Vol 8 No 8 is sponsored by

 

BankersAlmanac.Com

http://www.bankersalmanac.com/info/WMLR.htm?cp=CAC-FPBA-20080906-WMLR

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UK: British Army suffers internal threat.

If the British Army, with all its systems and controls, doesn't know that its staff are up to no good, what chance to commercial concerns have of identifying and controlling internal failures?

 

Land Banking: Board Member or Squareholder?

As property prices rise, speculators pile into the market. Land Banking allows small investors to join in the landrush, lured by promises of high returns on investments. Nigel Morris-Cotterill, Head, The Anti Money Laundering Network argues that this area of activity carries significant consumer risk and is under-regulated.

 

The Nigerian FIU and the Fight Against Corruption.

Muhammad M Abdul Rahman, Head, Monitoring & Analysis. Nigerian FIU-EFCC, Abuja, Nigeria sets out what the legal and regulatory regimes are designed to do - and how they are achieving successes.

 

Nigel Morris-Cotterill on why lawmakers and regulators should rely on principles not lists when defining which business activities are regulated, and why countries that do rely on lists increase the opportunity for criminal activity to go undetected.

 

One of the most contentious issues in freezing and forfeiture is how, if a person's assets are frozen, he is supposed to pay for lawyers to challenge the freezing. This article analyses OFAC's guidelines on the release of funds for this purpose - and shows who is placed at risk by those guidelines.

 

Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing - the legal framework in Argentina

Guillermo Jorge, Partner, Jorge-Dassen Consulting, Argentina examines Argentina's legal and regulatory position under the law as at October 2007, including significant differences between Argentina's law and common provisions elsewhere in the world.

 

Suicide is Painful: the Samual Israel III story.

A little light relief with a serious point where the promoter of a "hedge fund" tried to pretend he had gone the same way as the funds entrusted to him.

 

 

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This issue sponsored by bankersalmanaconline.com

For more information see http://www.bankersalmanac.com/info/WMLR.htm?cp=CAC-FPBA-20080906-WMLR

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*In World Money Laundering Report Online: Daily News in the past few days:*

 

UK: compliance officer's approval withdrawn

29. July 2008

Proof, if it were needed, that being a compliance officer in a regulated institution means being in the firing line from all sides - and when the regulator takes aim, that can be the end of a career. This case is about KYC failings in a financial adviser.

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UK: FSA indictment on allegation of insider trading

29. July 2008

The UK's Financial Services Authority does not use its powers to bring criminal cased lightly - and the indictment against one Malcolm Calvert is definitely not lightweight.

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UK: insurer fined for poor service

29. July 2008

Insurance company Hastings Insurance Services made a mistake and its customers had to pay for it. The FSA says that's not good enough. And it's levied a whacking fine.

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USA: Pennsylvania to regulate out of state services

29. July 2008

American state Pennsylvania has decided that out of state and non-US companies offering services by internet that are available to its residents must be licensed in that state.

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UK: figures suggest decline in financial crime - in first five years of decade

28. July 2008

Figures released by the UK Government suggest that the number of financial criminals who re-offended in the first five years of this decade showed a steady decline.

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NZ: scandals begin to mount

25. July 2008

When the economy's going well, no one seems to mind what anyone else gets up to. But as thoughts of impending economic doom rise, the way some people behave begins to get more attention.

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USA: phone card tax dodger jailed for laundering

24. July 2008

Malaysia: court sits late to hear charges

24. July 2008

On-Line Payment Systems: e-Gold directors plead in money laundering case

23. July 2008

PEPS: African media on Mugabe's mob

22. July 2008

AUS: ASIC releases asset freeze

22. July 2008

Sanctions: A busy week for OFAC

21. July 2008

AUS: ASIC targets Firepower

21. July 2008

Corruption: will EU hold back funding?

17. July 2008

South Africa: investment adviser stole clients' money

17. July 2008

Identity fraud: We play, you pay

16. July 2008

Netherlands: FIU head spells out failures in law

15. July 2008

UK: Police target MSBs

15. July 2008

Bermuda: no dissent on new money laundering Bill

14. July 2008

Malaysia: alleged money launderer arrested

14. July 2008

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*Forthcoming Financial Crime Fora*

 

Combating Internal Threats

Hong Kong 25 - 26 September 2008

 

Sanctions in Action

Kuala Lumpur 30 - 31 October 2008

 

For more information see www.financialcrimeforum.com

 

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*News from The Anti Money Laundering Network*

 

1. The Anti Money Laundering Network will launch its new website on 1 August 2008. With improved navigation to all business units, and the addition of new units in the commerce and industry divisions, under the slogan "Business Intelligence for Intelligent Businesses, the new site brings together all the Group businesse areas.

From its origins as a consultancy specialising in money laundering risk management, the Anti Money Laundering Network has grown to encompass publications, software, training, e-learning and Fora, summits and conferences on a wide range of subjects for the financial sector, governments and the whole commercial environment.

The Group's global response centre is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The new site will replace the existing site at the same address i.e. www.antimoneylaundering.net.

 

2. The Financial Crime Forum, Sanctions in Action, has in-principle agreements from speakers from the US State Department, an Iranian regulator, a senior international banker, an Bretton Woods institution, an international sanctions-making body, a company which has been subject to international sanctions, a central banker, a trade ministry and more. Named are released as details are confirmed. Bookings at www.financialcrimeforum.com

 

3. The Anti Money Laundering Network's series "Developing an effective money laundering risk matrix" has completed its Asia Pacific tour. For dates for the Middle East and Europe, please see www.moneylaunderingriskmatrix.com

 

4. The Chief Officers' Network at www.chiefofficers.net has launched The Risk Professional as part of its services to senior officers. The Chief Officers' Network is an information platform to which senior officers contribute articles for publication. To access The Risk Professional direct, click www.theriskprofessional.com

 

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*World Money Laundering Report: Digest. News shorts.*

 

- UK: a smuggler who hid 1.7 tonnes of cannabis resin into the UK buried in a consignment of peppers was this week jailed for ten years. Pedro Re Masegosa, 42, travelling under the name of Eugenio Crispin Dominguez Mata and with false number plates on his lorry, was stopped by customs officers after arriving at the port. The officers suspected that Re Masegosa smelt strongly of alcohol and called in the police who arrested him following a positive breath test. The search of the vehicle then resumed and the customs officers discovered the cannabis hidden within 22 pallets of peppers.

 

- HK: Two former employees of a chain of hot pot restaurants and a tealeaf supplier were this week sentenced at Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court for bribery in relation to food supplies to the restaurant. Chiu Chak-Man, 52, a former warehouse supervisor of Little Sheep Hong Kong Holdings Company Limited (Little Sheep), received a jail term of one year, while Ma Ka-Wo, 37, a former head chef of Little Sheep, was jailed for six months.

Chiu and Ma were ordered to pay HKD21,000 and HKD5,000 respectively as restitution to their former employer. A watch which Chiu accepted as a bribe from a supplier was ordered to be sold, the proceeds of which were to be returned to his former employer.

 

- HK: Negative equity figures have been published this week. Source: HKMA. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced today the results of its latest survey on residential mortgage loans (RMLs) in negative equity. The estimated number of RMLs in negative equity decreased marginally to 936 cases2 at end-June 2008 from 953 cases in the previous quarter. Compared with the peak of about 106,000 cases at end-June 2003, the number has fallen by 99%. The aggregate value of RMLs in negative equity stood at HKD1.7 milliard at end-June 2008. The unsecured portion of these loans remained unchanged at HKD0.2 milliard. The loan-to-value ratio of the RMLs in negative equity fell to 112% from 118% at end-March 2008. The three-month delinquency ratio3 of the RMLs in negative equity fell to 0.61% from 1.13% at end-March 2008 as the amount of delinquent RMLs in negative equity.

 

- Australia: a recent Four Corners report called Debtland broadcast within Australia in March this year and broadcast this week on Australia Network across South East Asia has highlighted the use of due diligence information to make loans, in some cased inappropriate. Information on financial affairs, including grants and benefits, has been used as the basis for loan offers. In an interview with the programme Brian Johnson of JP Morgan says that lenders are looking at disposable income, using the basis of a poverty index to decide how much families need to live on, then apply the remainder as "disposable income" and therefore available to service a loan. But with credit card debt easy to obtain, and left out of account in the calculations, and with no flexibility when interest rates rise or "interest free" periods on loans kick in, their finances break. The programme is online at www.abc.net.au/4corners and full transcripts of the programme and extended interviews with some of the participants. It also shows the effects of a growing debt crisis, and the risk of a slowing economy.. They don't make the link to financial crime. But analysts with moneylaunderingriskmatrix.com, a division of The Anti Money Laundering Network use measures of debt, repossessions, property price changes, credit card lending and default and economic growth or contraction as measures that feed into the assessment of the likely rate of financial crime. The programme is at http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20080331/debt/default.htm and it is highly recommended. The website also has statements from banks mentioned in the reports and valuable research materials. But another side to the story is presented by VedaVantage, a credit reporting company, says that 2.7 million Australians have misled lenders to obtain credit.

 

- internet crime: a new and rapidly running stock pump and dump scam is using an old series of news stories as a tag for its emails. Headed "FBI grabs Facebook files" or similar, the email contains nothing but a web-link. Its simplicity is a highly effective tactic at defeating spam filters. The headlines are based in stories that are so obvious that they are, in truth, non-stories. Police and other enforcement agencies use Web2.0 as part of their work, including seeking to identify and monitor those suspected of in some way being supportive of terrorism or other serious crime. Excluding internet fraud, seemingly. But the most proximate cause of the headline is a news item produced on 29th July 2008 in WorldFutures.Info in which Kazi Mahmood (who may not have originated the story but it is the most prominent coverage of it) talks about "Server in the Sky" which would provide a global ( FBI is developing the project hoping for international acceptance) database of biometric data as well as data trawled from Web2.O applications such as Facebook. Facial recognition is also planned to be part of the programme, and so photos on e.g. Flikr could be used as the basis of proof of association. It's all a long way from reality, at least for the present, but the spammers don't care: their mail is getting through to desktops.

 

World Money Laundering Report: Digest is published in the UK by Vortex Centrum Limited under ISSN 1473-3439

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