Expert Webinar: “Trade Based Money Laundering”

Congressman Robert Pittenger hosted the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Webinar on Trade Based Money Laundering.

This forum provides the opportunity for Members of Parliament throughout the world to learn from experts and each other about issues of national security particularly in reference to fight organized crime, money laundering and counter-terrorism efforts. These forums not only share critical information but encouraged co-operation between governments, private, and public sector organizations.

Handelsbezogene Geldwäsche “Trade Based Money Laundering”
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17th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum in Washington


Washington, D.C., United States of America December 2019

W-T-W Women and Finance participated again together with Members of Parliament in Washington at the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum. The former Congressman Robert Pittenger organizes the conference on a rotation basis between Washington and a European capital. Next meeting will take place in May in Hungary.

The forum took place with about 340 participants from 80 countries in the Dirksen Building of the Senate. This year’s focus was on the control of financial flows that make the deadly triangle of terror, corruption and organized crime possible in the first place…
2019 DC Forum Report

Mr. Mariano FEDERICI, Chair of the Egmont Group, Egmont Group Executive Secretary, spoke at the Parliamentary Intelligence Security Forum in Washington, D.C.

Mr. FEDERICI explained to Members of Parliament what an FIU is, its mandate, functions, legal framework, legal powers and the necessity to have FIUs that are autonomous and operationally independent. Last year the Chair also underlined the adopted
UN Resolution 2462 that stresses the key role of FIU in the AML/CFT Chain.

 

Andreas Frank from Germany was focusing on the fight against Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terror (CFT).
As an AML/CFT expert he serves as an advisor to the Bundestag, the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Parliament’s PANA committee (Committee of Inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion) as well as to the European Parliament’s TAX3 committee (Special Committee on Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance).

See his remarkable speech:
Hybrid Warfare, Money Laundering, Offshore Structures /PDF

Congressman Pittenger with Members of the Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum Steering Committee, at a post-forum planning breakfast. Dr Csaba Hende (left) will host next meeting in Mai in Hungary. Also at the table the Honorable Emanuelis Zingeris from Lithuania, Founder W-T-W Women and Finance Dagmar Frank and Mr. Mariano Federici, President Financial Intelligence Unit.

 

Cartoon: www.w-t-w.org/en/liza-donnelly

Past Event:
On 20 June 2019 Congressman Robert Pittenger and Hon. Sonia Krimi hosted the 14th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum in Paris France.

Identifying Money Transfers In the Service of Hamas

ICT Cyber-Desk: Identifying Money Transfers In the Service of Hamas

While investigating a Bitcoin address associated with the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip, an irregular increase in the scope of activity has been identified compared to a previous review. A deeper review showed that the same address served a seemingly legitimate financial website by the name of cash4ps, which has been active for the past four years.

Further, the company has been identified as operating an account in a designated bank. It seems that alt least one of the web site’s managers has ties to Hamas. Moreover, an analysis of the varied financial transactions carried out through the website point out to methods of funds transfer by terror organizations into Gaza, from Gaza and within Gaza.

Even though one cannot point out with complete certainty specific transactions as done for of by terror organizations, the very nexus between the Bitcoin address, the site’s managers affiliation and the type of the site’s activity presents a variety of means to be used by terror organization to raise donations and funds, pay operatives and finance terror attacks outside of Gaza….Read Full Publication

Arend van Dam
https://www.w-t-w.org/en/arend-van-dam/

 

Women Networks Fight Against Corruption and Money Laundering

Organized Crime – What Does It Mean To Women?
Women And Children Worldwide Suffer Most From Corruption! Lets Fight Together Against Transnational Organized Crime – TOC, Corruption And Money Laundering.

Anti Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism – AML/CFT

What Can Women-Networks Do About?

  • Talk and inform about Transnational Organized Crime – TOC, Mafia,
    corruption and money laundering
  • Offer advice on how to present these subjects
  • Appreciate whistle-blowers, the police, journalists and experts on money laundering, and propose them for awards
  • Crime enablers: Reveal the web of patronage, cover-up and disguising
  • Find lady scientists who research in this field and discuss with them possibilities to resolve these problems
  • Form working groups for individual subjects, invite lady experts.
  • Solidarity and networking with women, educate children in this sense
  • Support antimafia organizations, travel-and-study groups. Don’t buy drugs and fake products
  • Send readers’ letters to the press and members of parliament. Ask questions
  • Demand freedom of information laws and transparency
  • If necessary file a criminal complaint
  • Inform TV/radio/video/film and vote in elections
  • Find others who are interested: authoresses, bloggers, social media groups, lady-directors, films, artists

What else can we do?

Cartoon: @lizadonnelly / Liza Donnelly

Organisierte Kriminalität – Was geht das Frauen an?
Was bedeutet Crime Enabling? Wie verschleiert man ein Verbrechen ? Was ist ein Heimlichkeitsdelikt oder eine Vertuschungsgemeinschaft? Was können Frauen-Netzwerke tun?

Award For Journalists, Whistleblowers, And Defenders of The Right To Information

GUE/NGL award for Journalists, Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information, in Honour of Daphne Caruana Galizia

Commenting on the award, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son,
Matthew, says:

“As corruption and crime continue to erode freedom and undermine security, our societies increasingly fall back on individuals who take personal risks to raise the alarm on wrongdoing.”

“Whistleblowers need protection and deserve recognition.”

The winners where announced at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday 16th April 2019….

Watch here video intervention starts minute 37

guengl.eu
guengl-panamapapers.eu

Ladies and Gentlemen
 
from Yasmine Motarjemi PhD
Nyon, Switzerland
 
Today, after living nearly fourteen years in distress, in my thirst for justice, it is a day of hope. The sun is shining in my heart. Every day, for fourteen years, I have been looking through my mail in the hope of good news. A month ago, unexpectedly I saw that I had been nominated for this year’s Award for Journalists and whistleblowers in honour of Daphne Caruana Galizia ! What an honour it is to be associated with her ! 
 
I am very pleased to see that through this award, the importance of food safety, public health and human rights is being recognized. I hope that this award gives courage to employees in food and other businesses to stand for ethical practices and speak up when the health or interests of the public is at risk.
 
On this occasion, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who have nominated me, to the jury who has honoured me with this award and has given me the opportunity to speak in this forum. Also, I wish to express my warmest thanks and appreciation to those who believed in me and have stayed by my side during these difficult years. I hope that at this occasion I can also be the voice of other whistleblowers in Switzerland, France or elsewhere in the world, as well as those victims of abuse at work and those fighting for their justice. My thoughts are also with my family who have had to endure the consequences of the events.
 
***
 
Who am I and what did I do with my life? My name is Yasmine Motarjemi. I am a former senior scientist and Acting Director of the World Health Organisation. In my last position, I was an Assistant Vice President at Nestlé, in charge of global food safety. I held this position until 2010, when I was fired. It may be interesting for you to know that I was born in Iran but have a triple nationality in the countries of Iran, Sweden and Switzerland. 
 
However, today, I am speaking here as a citizen of the world to the world. I would like to speak about health and safety, about life – your life. I would like to say that, regardless of political inclination, race or religion, human life matters. I would also like to say that I stand for citizens’ rights to know how the safety of products are managed and what some employees endure to ensure the protection of people’s health. I would like the public to know that we, whistleblowers, pay a high price for reporting information that the public need to know. 
 
***
 
My battle for food safety, public health and human rights started 14 years ago. However, this was preceded by 25 years of hard work to improve food safety and public health in the world. In a competitive and macho world, the road to success was not easy. It involved many uphill struggles. My personal story of pain and suffering that Nestlé has inflicted upon me is nowhere near as important as the outrage that resides in me from my experience with the despicable manner that food safety has been managed in this specific case.  
 
Time does not allow me to go into the details of mismanagement that I experienced in Nestlé (For information on this subject see the  document entitled A battle in name of food safety, public health and human rights  https://issuu.com/ymotarjemi/docs/a_battle_in_the_name_of_food_safetyI can only say that I really did not mean to become a whistleblower, but Nestlé management did so much wrong, that I felt that I had no choice
Perhaps, the worst thing that the Nestlé management did was to refuse to pay attention to my internal reporting as a result of which incidents happened. To err is human, to persist in error is diabolical. 
 
***
Instead of addressing my food safety concerns, after several years of excellent performance, Nestlé Management subjected me to a severe case of sustained and persistent psychological harassment, which felt like torture to me. For four years, while continuing to fulfil the responsibilities of my senior position, my superiors stripped me from my projects and prerogatives, dismantled my team, humiliated me, isolated me, defamed me, denigrated my opinion, blocked my instructions, withheld information, spied on me, threatened me, forced me into impossible or humiliating jobs and they did all this and more without any regard for the implications of such practices.
 
The daily humiliations felt like being lashed over and over with a whip. The isolation and exclusion from the professional world felt like a prison, a large prison without walls and yet still a prison as no one talks to you, no one sees you and no one hears you. Sometimes one wishes to be dead rather than go through such harassment. 
 
***
I share my story because my abuse is a symptom of an even deeper, much larger problem. If Nestlé or other companies can behave this way, break the law and bully individuals and communities alike, it is because public health and judicial authorities are failing to meet their responsibilities.
 
Even when I reported incidents to public health authorities, NGOs, Unions or my professional community, with few exceptions, they were not interested in investigating food safety management problems that I was reporting or in learning from my experiences.
 
What can explain this deliberate ignorance ? They are all afraid of Nestlé, I am told. Our society has been taken hostage by fear!  I may say.
 
***
The only option for me was to report my case to judicial authorities. However, even then I was subjected to retaliation. Nestlé counter-sued me for violating professional secrecy. Nestlé also teamed up with my litigation insurance company, which I had to challenge in another court. The Fonds de Pensions Nestlé (Nestlé Pension Fund) sued me for my publications and my efforts to survive professionally. These are just a few of the major hurdles I have faced. However, the path to justice is often long, arduous and full of pitfalls. Victims have sometimes to confront false medical examinations, mischievous lawyers, sham investigations, misleading facts or half-truths, character assassination and more. It is difficult to put into words the cost I have paid in terms of my health, the well-being of my family, the strain on my financial resources and the impact on my life overall. Although the impact on me has been profound, it remains a symptom of an even larger problem. 
 
The main problem is the justice system. After 8 years of judicial battles, standing alone against a giant corporation and other large companies, the Swiss court confirmed that I had been subjected to psychological harassment. However, surprisingly, the court refused to condemn Nestlé and to compensate me for my expenses and losses. To this end, after 8 years, it considered my request to be inadmissible and viewed that Nestlé had acted legally. The court decided to ignore the fact that Nestlé never examined my concerns for food safety. There were no consequences for the manager responsible for both the mismanagement of food safety and my harassment. He remained in his senior position and was never sanctioned. 
 
When the justice system allows companies to commit social and professional assassination of whistleblowers without sanction and turns a blind eye to their alerts against wrongdoings, then I can only conclude that our system is corrupt. 
 
***
Although my whistleblowing experience started by attempting to deal with lapses in food safety management, my story ends by showing a total dysfunction of our society. 
 
My experience is similar to the situation of other whistleblowers in Switzerland and in other countries, as if the same formula is applied again and again to dismantle the lives of whistleblowers, our health, reputation, social status and financial security. The irony is that my story is happening in Switzerland, the country that best symbolizes democracy and rule of law, and it is taking place under the nose of the very organisations set up to protect human rights and public health. 
 
Although, the events reported above took place in Switzerland, the results of Nestlé mismanagement in food safety can have consequences anywhere in the world. My case shows that, in a globalised world, the lack of a fair legal and judicial system in Switzerland, as it pertains to whistleblowers, is a threat to the interests of communities worldwide.
 
Thank you for this award which definitely brings a positive note to this chapter of my life. The Persian poet Rumi (1207-1273) describes well this day, this moment, of my life:
 
 “Your legs will get heavy and tired. 
Then comes a moment of feeling, 
the wings you’ve grown, lifting.

 

 

W-T-W Congratulates the Winners of the Cartoon of the Year 2018

W-T-W Women and Finance Founder Dagmar Frank announces the winner of W-T-W.org Women and Finance Cartoon of the Year. Congratulations to Doaa Eladl for fighting for Press Freedom

Each and every one of our cartoonists deserves a prize.  W-T-W Women and Finance is proud to publish their important and tantalizing work. From a large pool of distinguished cartoons, voters selected this year Doaa Eladl.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) presents the 2018 press freedom barometerWhy is freedom of the press important in a democracy?

When our leaders threaten journalists, they are threatening the First Amendment, along with our most basic rights. “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press,” said Jefferson, “and that cannot be limited without being lost.”

W-T-W.org Women and Finance Cartoon of the Year 2016

Dagmar Frank announces the winner of W-T-W.org Women and Finance Cartoon of the Year.  Congratulations to Marilena Nardi for fighting corruption with “Mani in Tasca” Hands in the pocket. On a website dedicated in part to the definition and exploration of corruption, Nardi’s subtle, portrayal of corruption’s insidious role in society highlights the problem with a cruel grace.Cartoon of the Year 2016
Second prize to Silvan Wegmann for the wonderful cartoon on “Women’s Day”
It’s A Man’s World.

Third prize to ZUNAR-Zulkiflee Anwar Haque for his self portrait “Cartooning in Malaysia”.
A Malaysian Political Cartoonist on Facing His Fears, and Prison, for Art.
Cartoon of the Month December 2016In an interview, Mr. Zulkiflee, 54, discussed how social media has become an increasingly important channel for political dissents, and why he continues to use his art to investigate corruption and injustice.

 

G20 Tax records will be shared around the world by 2015

The participants of the Summit focused on investment and creating jobs, among other issues. The G20 Leaders Declaration has been published following the G20 Summit in St.Petersburg.

Tax records will be shared around the world by 2015 as part of a G20 pledge to crack down on individual tax cheats and global corporations with complicated arrangements aimed at paying as little tax as possible.

The topic of taxation in a global economy has become a major political issue of late, as multinational firms like Apple and Starbucks have faced scrutiny over their corporate structures. Further, investigative reports into the use of offshore tax havens by the world’s wealthiest individuals added momentum to the view that governments are getting short-changed of much needed revenue.

G20

WEF: Global Competitiveness

WEF World Economic Forum

The Report 2013-2014 assesses the competitiveness landscape of 148 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. The Report series remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide. WEF_GlobalCompetitivenessReport_2013-14

The report’s Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) places Switzerland at the top of the ranking for the fifth year running. Singapore and Finland remain in second and third positions respectively. Germany moves up two places (4th) and the United States reverses a four-year downward trend, climbing two places to fifth. Hong Kong SAR (7th) and Japan (9th) also close the gap on the most competitive economies, while Sweden (6th), the Netherlands (8th) and the United Kingdom (10th) fall.  

 

The United States continues to be a world leader in bringing innovative products and services to market. Its rise in the ranking is down to a perceived improvement in the country’s financial market as well as greater confidence in its public institutions. However, serious concerns persist over its macroeconomic stability, which ranks 117 out of 148 economies.

 

 

In the cartoon above, Ms. Merkel says to Mr. Schwab (founder of the WEF): “Great, all the snow this year!” Mr. Schwab responds: “That’s not snow, it’s European debt paper!”

WEF