Germany is one of the first choices for gangs worldwide when it comes to washing dirty money, as a Sicilian official recently confirmed. “I’d invest in Germany,” said Robert Scarpinato, Palermo’s public prosecutor…..Money Laundering
Rodrigo Matos
www.w-t-w.org/en/rodrigo-de-matos
www.rodrigocartoon.com
Elizabeth Warren: My office found that Rusal America Corp – a subsidiary of a sanctioned company controlled by a Russian oligarch & Putin ally – got an exemption from @realDonaldTrump’s aluminum tariffs days after he met with Putin in Helsinki. I asked the Trump Admin why.
Hundreds of companies have asked the Trump administration for a special break from its sweeping aluminum tariffs. Few have succeeded. One that managed to get an exemption is a Russian firm currently subject to Treasury Department sanctions.
How Rusal America — a branch of a Russian metals giant controlled by an oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir V. Putin — managed to win an exclusion highlights the chaotic and unwieldy process surrounding President Trump’s tariffs……NYTimes.com
The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering is an intergovernmental organisation, consisting of 41 member jurisdictions, focused on ensuring that its members effectively implement the international standards against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing related to weapons of mass destruction.
In addition to its enormous human cost, human trafficking is estimated to be one of the most profitable proceeds generating crime in the world, with the International Labour Organisation estimating that forced labour generates USD 150.2 billion per year. While in the past, many aspects of the crime went ‘unseen’, there is now an increased understanding of the breadth and gravity of human trafficking, particularly with respect to domestic human trafficking and human trafficking for labour exploitation. Human trafficking is also one of the fastest growing forms of international crime. The increased displacement and vulnerability of people in, and around, conflict zones increases instances of human trafficking, including potential involvement by opportunistic terrorist organisations…. Human-Trafficking-2018
Rodrigo de Matos
www.w-t-w.org/en/rodrigo-de-matos/
Booklet 5 focuses on the specific issues related to drug use among women, including the social and health consequences of drug use and access to treatment by women with drug use disorders; it also discusses the role played by women in the drug supply chain.
The Panama Papers
Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens.
A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.
The leak also provides details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.
The cache of 11.5 million records shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.
These are among the findings of a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations….. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists 
Not only Switzerland as an international financial center is exposed to huge risks from financial crime. This is increased by outdated transaction monitoring systems, inadequate approaches to Know Your Customer and poorly determined risk appetites…..
Clarity on Financial Crime in Banking/KPMG
For decades, the United States has been one of the leading destination havens for wealthy individual offshore investors.
Q: “So where else do you advise clients to set up their offshore companies and trusts?”
A: “We think Delaware is pretty good. They have over a million companies and trusts there, and no beneficial ownership registration. No one can find you.”
—Senior partner, leading Panama law firm, money laundering conference, 2008
By now we (should) all know that global trade wars, as well as imperial wars, can be costly. But the high costs of global tax competition, deregulation wars, and financial secrecy wars have received much less attention. Unfortunately, at current course and speed, such wars may well proliferate. Furthermore, the United States, which has long prided itself on being one of the world’s leading proponents of progressive taxation, multilateral cooperation, and stiff sanctions for white-collar financial crime, is now actually leading this race to the bottom…..The American Interest reports:
The Worlds Largest Tax Haven- Guess Who / James S. Henry
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
Russian money hidden in British assets and laundered through City of London financial institutions damages the government’s efforts to take a tough stance against Moscow’s aggressive foreign policy.
Britain’s financial centre has been a major beneficiary of the massive flight of Russian cash since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, and London remains the Western capital of choice for the oligarchs and Russian officials who flaunt their wealth across Europe’s most luxurious destinations. Russian ‘Dirty Money’ in LondonUndermines National Security, U.K. Lawmakers Warn.
Influential MP’s have called for measures which could tighten the sanctions regime against Russia and reduce flows of “dirty money” into London. …
Independent.co.UK
Businessinsider.de/UK
The Guardian
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
