A US report says UAE’s capital is a haven
for war-profiteers, financiers of ‘terror’ and drug traffickers.

Aljazeera reports:  With its skyscrapers, luxury villas and a high concentration of millionaires and billionaires, Dubai’s rise to global city and business hub has captured the world’s attention.

It’s one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) an absolute monarchy long ruled by the Al Maktoum family.

The rapid development of the city has made it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

But the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies (CADS) has obtained leaked property data from the city-state.

And it has found that those who make money out of wars, who finance “terror”, or are involved in drug trafficking use Dubai’s real estate market as a haven for money laundering.

Dubai real estate market haven for money launderers

Property investigated in US report worth more than $100m in places such as Burj Khalifa and Palm Jumeirah…
Sandcastles by the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies

Dubai has reportedly become a money-laundering paradise

The U.K. will force its overseas territories, including some well-known corporate secrecy havens, to reveal the names of company owners in these locations.

The United Kingdom is to force its overseas territories, including the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and other well-known corporate secrecy havens, to reveal the names of the ultimate owners behind companies in these remote locations.

The surprise move, which until Tuesday had not been supported by prime minister Theresa May’s government, is a victory for corporate transparency campaigners who have long claimed that offshore secrecy encourages and enables corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and other crimes around the world.

It comes two years after the ICIJ’s Panama Papers investigation showed one in every two companies found in Mossack Fonseca’s files — the controversial law firm at heart of the scandal — was incorporated in the BVI. Mossack Fonseca closed down in March.

Duncan Hames, of Transparency International UK, said “these jurisdictions have long been the Achilles’ heel of our defenses against dirty money.”

Global Witness, a nonprofit campaigner against corruption, said the U.K.’s intervention was “a huge win in the fight against corruption tax dodging and money laundering.”

Many campaigners credited investigative work by ICIJ, including the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, and its partners for highlighting controversial practices in the offshore world.

The U.K.’s 14 overseas territories also include Anguilla, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Montserrat and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Their constitutional relationship with the U.K. is slightly different to that of the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man — none of which will be subject to the new rules…..icij.org

This report provides a summary of the anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) measures in place in Ukraine as at the date of the on-site visit (between 27 March and 8 April 2017). It analyses the level of compliance with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) 40 Recommendations and the level of effectiveness of Ukraine’s AML/CFT system, and provides recommendations on how the system could be strengthened.

Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures Ukraine:
Fifth Round Mutual Evaluation Report

Harm Bengen
www.w-t-w.org/en/harm-bengen

U.S. proposes sanctions on the Latvian ABLV Bank* 
over money-laundering concerns. The U.S. is seeking to impose sanctions on ABLV Bank, the third largest financial institution in Latvia by assets, by prohibiting the bank from opening or maintaining a correspondent account in the United States due to money laundering concerns, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said on Tuesday…RIGA-Reuters
US treasury bans latvian bank over money-laundering concerns

According to Association of Latvian Commercial Banks, ABLV is the third largest bank in Latvia with assets of around 3.6 billion euros in September 2017.
ABLV NPRM 2018-02-12 * Currently, ABLV Bank, AS is the largest independent private bank in Latvia, having representative offices of the Group in many CIS countries. The bank’s controlling interest is held by Ernests Bernis and Oļegs Fiļs. The bank’s other shareholders include top management, employees, and the bank’s long-term partners and customers.

ABLV Bank is a member of the Association of Latvian Commercial Banks, which protects interests of Latvian banks both in domestic and foreign markets, certifies banking specialists, and arranges professional seminars. Also, ABLV Bank takes active part in operations of other professional institutions, which aim at developing Latvia as regional financial centre.

The Tax Justice Network released their Financial Secrecy Index, ranking Switzerland and the United States as the top two countries most attractive for tax evaders and money launderers. This is the second time in a row that the US has risen on the index, marking a fall in terms of transparency.

The Tax Justice Network just released their 2018 Financial Secrecy Index Switzerland and the United States were followed in the index by Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands, an autonomous British Overseas Territory. The index is unique in that it ranks countries based on a number of criteria, rather than creating a “blacklist” where countries are either labeled as tax havens or not.

 According to a statement by the Tax Justice Network (TJN), the United States has moved up in the rankings because it “refuses to take part in international initiatives to share tax information with other countries, and has failed to end anonymous companies and trusts”.
OCCRP.org
Please click here to access the interactive overview map:
Financialsecrecyindex.com