Real Estate Albania

The U.S. Department of State has designated Iran as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Iran is not a regional financial center. Iran has a robust underground economy and the use of alternative remittance systems to launder money is widespread. The underground economy is spurred—in part—by attempts to avoid restrictive taxation. In 2003, a prominent Iranian banking official was quoted as estimating that money laundering encompasses 20 percent of Iran’s economy and that the under-development of financial institutions leads to an imbalance in financial markets causing underground financial activities to flourish. Further, Iran’s real estate market is used to launder money. Real estate transactions take place in Iran, but often no funds change hands there; rather, payment is made overseas. This is typically done because of the difficulty in transferring funds out of Iran and the weakness of Iran’s currency, the rial. The real estate market, in at least one instance, has been used t ... [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]

Austria

The Austrian legal system protects secured interests in property, both movable and real. Mortgages are recognized, if they are registered in the land register and the underlying contracts are valid. The law recognizes mortgages, if they are registered in the land register and the underlying contracts are valid. The land register provides a reliable system for recording interests in property. For any real estate agreement to be effective, the agreement must be entered with the land register. This requires approval of the land transfer commission or the office of the provincial governor. Any interested party has access to the land register. ... [Read More]

Country Reports: G-M

Gabon Gabon is not a regional financial center. The Bank of Central African States (BEAC) supervises Gabon’s banking system. BEAC is a regional Central Bank that serves six countries of Central Africa. According to a 2003 letter from the Government of Gabon (GOG) to the UN Counter Terrorism Committee, in matters concerning suspicious financial transactions, banks are bound by the instructions of the Ministry of Economic and Financial Affairs. The actual monitoring of financial transactions is conducted by the Economic Intervention Service that harmonizes the regulation of currency exchanges in the member States of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC). On November 20, 2002, the BEAC Board of Directors approved draft anti-money laundering a ... [Read More]

M - Appendix B: Background Information on Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Collects donations from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf and Islamic states and from Pakistanis and Kashmiris. The HUM’s financial collection methods also include soliciting donations from magazine ads and pamphlets. The sources and amount of HUM’s military funding are unknown. In anticipation of asset seizures by the Pakistani Government, the HUM withdrew funds from bank accounts and invested in legal businesses, such ascommodity trading, real estate, and production of consumer goods. Its fundraising in Pakistan has been constrained since the government clampdown on extremist groups and freezing of terrorist assets. ... [Read More]

Europe and Central Asia

AlbaniaI. Summary Drug trafficking is a significant problem in Albania, which is a major transit country for heroin from Afghanistan and Turkey destined for markets throughout Europe. Organized crime groups use Albania as a transit point for drug and other types of smuggling due to the country’s strategic location, weak police and judicial systems, and porous borders. The most common illegal drugs are heroin, marijuana, and to a lesser extent, cocaine. Heroin is typically transported through the "Balkans Route" of Turkey-Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania, and on to Italy, Greece and the Netherlands. Cocaine is smuggled from South America, via the United States, Italy, Spain, Greece or the Netherlands, and ... [Read More]

M) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes

Iran’s real estate market is widely used as an alternative remittance system. For example, real estate transactions take place in Iran, but no funds change hands there; rather, payment is made overseas. This typically is done because of the difficulty in transferring funds out of Iran and the weakness of Iran’s currency, the rial. The real estate market, in at least one instance, has been used to launder narcotics-related funds. ...

Member states shall ensure that the obligations laid down in this Directive are imposed on the following institutions: credit institutions (as defined previously); financial institutions (as defined previously); and on the following legal or natural persons acting in the exercise of their professional activities: auditors, external accountants and tax advisors; real estate agents notaries and other independent legal professionals, when they participate, whether: (a) by assisting in the planning or execution of transactions for their client concerning the (i) buying and selling of real property or business entities; (ii) managing of client money, securities or other assets; (iii) opening or management of bank, savings or securities accounts; (iv) organization of contributions necessary for the creation, operation or management of companies (v) creation, operation or management of trusts, companies or similar structures; (b) or by acting on behalf of and for their client in any financial ... [Read More]

N - Appendix B: Background Information on Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations

Collects donations from the Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and United Kingdom, Islamic NGOs, and Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen. The LT also maintains a website (under the name of its parent organization Jamaat ud-Daawa), through which it solicits funds and provides information on the group’s activities. The amount of LT funding is unknown. The LT maintains ties to religious/military groups around the world, ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya through the MDI fraternal network. In anticipation of asset seizures by the Pakistani Government, the LT withdrew funds from bank accounts and invested in legal businesses, such as commodity trading, real estate, and production of consumer goods. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPT. BRIEFING ON KOSOVO LANDMINE PROBLEM

First, while the picture of conditions on the ground is only now emerging, it is clear that the combination of extensive Serb mine fields planted along virtually the whole southern border, KLA, Serb and NATO unexploded ordnance -- including cluster bombs, and mines and booby-traps laid by the Serb and KLA military and paramilitary forces -- have made Kosovo among the world's most dangerous real estate. To put this in perspective, the United States has programs in about 30 countries around the world to assist mine clearance, mine awareness and survivors assistance. In the space of a few months, Kosovo has risen to the top of our agenda. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPARTMENT NOON BRIEFING, JUNE 9

MR. RUBIN: It's my understanding that they want the real estate, and that they are using violations of the Vienna Convention to improve their real estate holdings. That would seem to me to be a particularly pathetic excuse for engaging in a fundamental violation of the Vienna Convention. ...

Although the Belarusian Foreign Ministry says the evacuation is to allow construction on water and sewage systems, the US government says the Belarusian government "is deliberately violating lease agreements and the requirements of the Vienna convention" in order to gain control of this real estate, Rubin said. He called the action "self destructive," "unnecessary, foolish and illegal provocation." ... [Read More]