Four Africans arrested in Japan for money-laundering

Police in Japan acting on an FBI request have arrested six people -- three Nigerians, one Ghanaian and two Japanese nationals -- in a money-laundering case, officials said Thursday.

The six are suspected of having received funds that were the proceeds of a crime, wired to them from a New York Citibank account in the name of the National Bank of Ethiopia, Japan's Metropolitan Police Department said.

Police said they had arrested a Nigerian citizen, Nyeche Obeneme, 36, living in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and two other Nigerian men as well as a Ghanaian man, and a Japanese man and woman.

Police suspect the six between them received up to 200 million yen (2.4 million dollars) in October 2008, allowing the money to be wired into their bank accounts in return for commissions.

The money is believed to be part of roughly 33 million dollars that were wired to accounts in seven countries, also including China, South Korea and Australia, Kyodo News reported.

"With the help of the FBI, we made the arrests on alleged violations of the organised crime law," the police spokesman said, referring to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Source: Daily Notion

ED may file money laundering case against Jagan

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may file a money laundering case against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and some of his associates, days after the CBI searched various premises belonging to the Kadapa MP.

The Directorate is understood to have made a discreet probe trailing the funds pumped by the MP and son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and his associates into the companies owned by them.

The agency, according to sources, has gone through some official documents of transactions as part of its investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA).

The CBI has already registered a case against Reddy on the instructions of Andhra Pradesh High Court under relevant sections of the IPC pertaining to cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI said searches were conducted at Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Rajkot, Delhi and Mumbai in this connection.

"The CBI has registered a case...against a Member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh, and others, on the orders of High Court of Andhra Pradesh...on the allegation that the investors invested in the companies owned and promoted by the MP at very high premiums as a quid-pro-quo for the favours doled out by the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh," a CBI spokesperson had said.

Source: IBN

Japan to Fully Enforce AML Law on March 1

The Japanese government decided at Tuesday's cabinet meeting to fully enforce the money laundering prevention law on March 1.

Currently, the law obliges financial institutions to notify regulative authorities of transactions that are seen linked to illegal money and terrorist funds and to confirm customers' identities.

From March, similar obligations will be applied to other businesses such as realtors, jewel traders and private mail box management firms. Professionals like judicial scriveners and certified public accountants will only need to check customers' identities.

Identification with publicly issued cards like drivers' licenses will be required in land transactions, trading in jewelry worth 2 million yen or more and concluding contracts to use private mail boxes. Transaction records must be kept for seven years.

Violators of the law may face up to two years in jail or a fine of up to 3 million yen. Negligent companies will be fined maximum 300 million yen.

The National Police Agency refrained from imposing on lawyers the report obligation because of a strong backlash from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.END

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Japan, U.S., Australia pledge close strategic partnership

Top diplomats of Japan, the United States and Australia undertook Friday to work in close strategic partnership to boost stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the world at large.

The decision was unveiled in a joint statement released after Masahiko Komura, Stephen Smith, foreign ministers of Japan, Australia respectively, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks at the third ministerial meeting of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue Friday, following the conclusion of the G8 foreign ministers meeting.

During the talks, the three ministers underscored the importance of promoting trilateral cooperation to ensure peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region as it is faced with a wide range of challenges, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and natural disasters.

Noting that their cooperation should be forward-looking and responsive to emerging security issues, the three nations vowed to further strengthen trilateral initiatives in various areas, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as well as counter-terrorism, security and defense cooperation.

With distinguished performance in response to natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, Japan, the United States and Australia highlighted strengthened cooperation on disaster management and emergency response.

In addition to developing arrangements to exchange information to ensure the best use of assets and other resources in responding to humanitarian emergencies, the ministers instructed relevant officials to formulate guidelines to expedite the trilateral cooperation and information-sharing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

On counter-terrorism, the top diplomats put emphasis on efforts to tackle the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, to sever terrorist financing and to mitigate and counter radicalization.

They also affirmed the commitment to practical security and defense cooperation in holding air mobility seminars, and participating in humanitarian activities by U.S, medical ships and Proliferation Security Initiative exercises.

Rice arrived in Kyoto on Thursday to attend the G8 foreign ministers meeting, which opened later in the day.

The two-day meeting was the last of a series of ministerial conferences held in the run-up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7-9 at the Toyako (Lake Toya) resort area in Hakkaido.

Editor: Bi Mingxin

Source: Xinhua