Trinidad And Tobago Mortgage Finance
M) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes
Furthermore, the LMLP establishes the Directorate For Money Laundering Prevention within the Ministry of Finance. The Directorate will collect, process, analyze, and store data received from financial institutions and other government agencies. In November 2001, the Ministry of Finance announced the formation of the Financial Police, which will investigate suspicious transactions reported to the Directorate. The Financial Police, which will be regulated by a separate law, were not operational as of the end of 2001. ... [Read More]
Bilateral Activities
Additional international money laundering and financial investigations training of approximately 80 law enforcement officers from 15 Central and South American countries was conducted by the ICE Financial Investigations Division in support of a program sponsored bi-annually by the Organization of American States (OAS), Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), in Lima, Peru. ICE also conducted anti-money laundering conferences for government officials in Aruba, Panama, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and Malaysia, under the auspices of the Terrorist Finance Working Group, Department of State, INL division. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) The International Training Section of the DEA conducts its International Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering courses in concert with the Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2004, a total of 235 participan ... [Read More]
Country Reports: N-Z
Namibia Namibia is not a regional financial center. In addition to its Central Bank, Namibia has four commercial banks. Of particular concern in Namibia is the smuggling of precious minerals and gems, the proceeds of which Namibian authorities think may be laundered through Namibian financial institutions. In November of 2004, Namibia criminalized money laundering with passage of the Prevention of Organized Crime Bill. The new law requires both bank and non-bank financial institutions to report suspicious transactions to the Central Bank and provide relevant documents and other information to government authorities for use in criminal investigations. Non-bank financial institutions, such as private pension funds, the stock exchange, and investment companies, were previously ... [Read More]
Money Laundering and Financial Crimes
(1) Patterns of Global Terrorism—1999, United States Department of State Publication 10687, April 2000.A wide-ranging joint FBI and Department of Treasury investigation into interstate cigarette smuggling, involving a suspected Hizballah terrorist cell operating in Charlotte, North Carolina, led to the July 21, 2000 arrest by U.S. authorities of 18 individuals. Ten days later a federal grand jury in North Carolina indicted these individuals, including seven suspected Hizballah supporters, for immigration fraud and related bribery and conspiracies; conspiring to smuggle contraband cigarettes; and conspiring to launder money. Many of the defendants continue to be detained prior to trial, while the investigation continues. At least seven of the defendants are suspected members of, or sympathetic to Hizballah, a foreign terrorist organization designated as such under U.S. law in 1997 and again in 1 ... [Read More]
Country Reports: N-Z
Amendments to criminalize terrorism finance and to vest the Security Service of Ukraine with authority to investigate terrorism finance have been proposed. The GOU has cooperated with USG efforts to track and freeze the financial assets of terrorists and terrorist organizations. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), State Tax Administration, Ministry of Finance, and State Security Service (SBU) are fully aware of U.S. Executive Order (E.O.) 13224 and subsequent updates and addenda to the lists of terrorists and terrorist organizations. All agencies have tracked data that was provided, and have exchanged information. The NBU has issued orders to banks to freeze accounts of individuals or organizations listed in the E.O. and later lists. ... [Read More]
International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports
FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERINGMONEY LAUNDERINGOVERVIEWIn 1992, the major trends affecting money laundering policy were: (1) further sophistication of money laundering practices; (2) greater investment of drug and other illicit proceeds into established businesses, both to conceal money movements and to capitalize on illicit profits; (3) the internationalization of money laundering networks whose operations involve an ever larger number of countries and territories, regardless of their importance as financial centers or as drug producing or transit countries; and (4) the intensified involvement of the Sicilian Mafia and other criminal organizations in Europe, Asia and the Western Hemisphere who comingle proceeds from many crimes to confound investigators, and are now acting as brokers for funds unrelated to their own trafficking activities. These trends have made it more difficult to differentiate between drug-related money laundering and other forms of illegal money m ... [Read More]
Money Laundering and Financial Crimes
Matthewson also arranged the issuance of Visa gold credit cards in the names of anonymous IBCs that permitted U.S. depositors access to their money in the offshore account without revealing the existence or ownership of the account. Matthewson further assisted in the creation of Dutch corporations that were used to issue sham mortgages that gave the appearance that depositors of his bank were borrowing money from a legitimate lender. These sham mortgages allowed depositors to use unreported funds from their offshore accounts at Guardian, to create sham tax deductions for mortgage interest, and to redeposit mortgage interest into secret offshore accounts. ... [Read More]
M) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes
On April 7, 2002, the Government of Algeria adopted Executive Order 02-127, which established the Cellule du Traitement du Renseignement Financier (CTRF), an independent unit within the Ministry of Finance. The 2003 Finance Law, approved on December 25, 2002, requires all financial institutions to report suspicious activity to the CTRF. All financial institutions are also obligated to comply with requests for information from the CRTF or face penal liability. The Finance Law allows the CTRF to freeze assets for up to 72 hours based on suspicious activity. Additionally, the Finance Law provides for state protection for officials or informants who cooperate with the CTRF. ... [Read More]
U.S. Response to OAS First Round Questionnaire
Questionnaire on Provisions Selected by the Committee of Experts for Analysis Within the Framework of the First Round*[*This questionnaire was adopted by the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, in its second meeting, held May 20 to 24, 2002, at OAS Headquarters, Washington, D.C.]IntroductionThe Report of Buenos Aires and the Rules of Procedure and Other Provisions of the Committee of Experts on the Mechanism for Follow-up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (hereinafter, as applicable, Report of Buenos Aires, Rules, Committee, Mechanism, and Convention) provide that the Committee shall adopt a questionnaire on the selected provisions to be reviewed in each round. [Read More]
V. Country Narratives -- Countries Q through Z
Rwanda is a source country for children internally trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Small numbers of impoverished Rwandan children, typically between the ages of 14 and 18, are exploited by loosely organized prostitution networks. In addition, some children of Rwandan background have been trafficked over the past decade for forced labor and child soldiering within Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.). In the mid-1990s, many Rwandan children living in refugee camps in D.R.C. became separated from their families after these camps were destroyed. Some of these children, surviving on their own in conflict-prone, militia-controlled territories, fell prey to recruitment, both forcible and voluntary, by various armed rebel groups. Over 200 former child soldiers have been returned to Rwanda from D.R.C. and demobilized; the government expects more to be repatriated in the future. The Rwanda ... [Read More]
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