Georgian crime boss sentenced in Spain for money laundering

A Spanish court on Tuesday convicted a top Georgian crime gang leader of money laundering and sentenced him to seven and a half years in jail.

Spain's top criminal court also slapped Zahar Kalashov, who was extradited to the country from Dubai in 2006, with a fine of 20 million euros (24.6 million dollars).

The court said he laundered money earned from criminal activities carried out in the former Soviet Union, such as kidnappings and the operation of illegal casinos, by investing in real estate and luxury cars in Spain.

It said he should be deported once he has served three-quarters of his sentence and will then be banned from entering Spain for a decade.

Public prosecutors had asked that Kalashov, who police suspect led the Georgian mafia in Spain, be sentenced to 12 years and two months behind bars.

Five other men who were detained as part of the same police investigation into the group were also convicted of money laundering at a separate trial last year and received prison sentences of between two and five years.

Kalashov fled Spain after police launched "Operation Wasp" in June 2005 which culminated in the arrests of 28 suspected members of his organisation from former Soviet states in Barcelona, Alicante and Malaga.

The swoop saw 800 bank accounts frozen and the impounding of luxury villas and vehicles along with the seizing of some 300,000 euros in cash.

Source: AFP

UK jury: Nigerian leader's sister laundered money

A U.K. jury has convicted the sister of a former Nigerian governor on charges of money laundering and mortgage fraud.

Christine Ibori-Ibie, sister of politician James Ibori, was found guilty Tuesday of 12 charges stemming from allegations she helped her brother embezzle an estimated $101.5 million from Nigeria's Delta state into U.K. bank accounts.

The jury acquitted one of Ibori's former assistants, while a third accused aide's trial continues Wednesday.

Nigeria's anti-graft agency says Ibori stole as much as $292 million while governor in the oil-rich state in the Niger Delta.

A Nigerian judge in December dismissed a 170-count fraud case against Ibori. Ibori was arrested May 12 in Dubai on a U.K. warrant and remains there, but is free on bail.

Source: The Associated Press

Italian court releases seized Vatican bank millions

An Italian court has released €23 million it had seized from the Vatican bank in 2010 amid an inquiry into allegations of money-laundering, Ansa news agency said.

The investigation centred on suspicious cash transfers in 2009 of 20 million euros (27 million dollars) to a branch of US bank J.P. Morgan in Germany and a further three million euros to the Italian Banca del Fucino.

Rome prosecutors said Wednesday that their decision to release the money was based on the Vatican's swift move to set up a new financial authority aimed at tackling allegations of money-laundering and "financing of terrorism".

New rules at the Holy See which came into effect on April 1 impose sentences of up to 12 years in prison for money-laundering and up to 15 years for "financing terrorism".

Pope Benedict XVI created the new financial authority in December to address "the prevention and opposition to illegal financial activity."

The move came despite insistence from the Vatican that the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) -- the official name of the Vatican bank -- was blameless.

Source: Times of Malta

SOCA money laundering database concerns remain, says Lords committee

By Leo King

Computerworld UK
 
Reporting and data retention on trivial activities are excessive it claims

A House of Lords committee has expressed major concerns over 'indefinite' data retention at the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Soca’s ELMER database, which holds over a million and a half records on activity that may be linked to crime, was also accessible to too many organisations, said a report by the Lords EU Committee.

The ‘Money laundering: data protection for suspicious activity reports’ paper, which includes findings from the Information Commissioner, also stated that it was disproportionate for the database to contain transactions with a “very low” level of suspicion.

It criticised the fact that activities “suspected to involve property which might be laundered” were required to be reported on the database “no matter how trivial the underlying criminal offence”.

"It is important that the government considers whether the current arrangements are still effective and can still be justified,” said Lord Hannay of Chiswick, the committee's chairman.

The report comes after it was disclosed that organisations were accessing the database for other reasons, with one council allegedly using the database to help discover housing benefit fraud.

Last year, the Information Commissioner completed a year-long review that was included in the new Lords’ report.

That review said there were concerns over the length of time that suspicious activity reports were retained on the database, especially when they were judged as being of ‘no concern’. The report questioned whether the data retention breached the Human Rights Act.

“The retention of SARs which raise no ongoing law enforcement concerns and the retention of these for an indefinite period engage concerns about out whether such retention is justified, necessary and proportionate. It is difficult to conclude that this is the case,” wrote the Information Commissioner.

The commissioner also said he was “concerned” whether individuals on the system were properly informed, when their data was on the system but their case was identified as not being of concern.

The Lords’ report concluded that the reporting of suspicious activity in ELMER was “disproportionate”. It added that “if too much information is collated on low levels of suspicion the process is devalued”.

Source: Computer World

Right click HERE to download a copy of the above-mentioned Report ("Money Laundering: Data Protection For Suspicious Activity Reports")

'Iran removed from money-washing list'

Iran has been removed from the list of countries involved in money laundering as the result of measures taken by Tehran against suspicious financial transactions, says an Iranian official.

Abdolmahdi Arjmandnejad, the general manager of anti-money laundering division of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), said that the CBI is also studying three new anti-money laundering measures and that the banking system will be informed about it after the final ratification of the regulations, Mehr news agency reported.

The new instructions include supervision of foreign costumers of financial institutions, surveillance of foreign political persons receiving banking services and the implementation of anti-money laundering laws by money exchanges.

Referring to the recent meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, he said, “The explaining of measures taken by Iran against money laundering led to the removal of Iran's name from the list of countries involved in money laundering operations.”

In 2009, CBI enforced the Anti-Money Laundering Law to curb suspicious financial transactions in the country.

Money laundering, a key operation of the underground economy, is the practice of disguising illegally obtained funds so that they seem legal.

Moreover, in a major step towards countering money-laundering, the Islamic Republic has teamed up with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to set up a financial intelligence unit to analyze suspicious financial transactions with a view to curbing such crime.

The unit, established in 2010, is collaborating with the Judiciary in investigating suspicious transactions and prosecuting offenders.

Source: Press TV

Serbia's goal is to eradicate money laundering or at least minimise it

by Michael Roberts - 01.06.2011

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said yesterday that Serbia's goal is to eradicate money laundering or at least minimise it.

Cvetkovic told a conference on combating money laundering and financing terrorism in the context of European integration of Serbia held in the Continental Hotel that these criminal acts lead to undermining the stability of all countries, threaten the reform and competition, foreign investment, security and reputation of the country.

He stressed that Serbia is trying to combat these crimes by making modern comprehensive legislation, improving the cooperation in the region as well as cooperation with international financial institutions.

The Prime Minister pointed out that this struggle is certainly long, difficult and exhausting, and pointed out that organised crime and money laundering are equal kinds of crimes.

Illegal acquisition of property is a major, but not the only motive for criminal activity, and to enjoy the benefits, criminals falsely show that the property is lawful, he explained and added that the key to a successful fight is to disable the creation of favourable conditions for the money to be introduced into legal channels.

Cvetkovic said that Serbia has been struggling for almost a decade against these acts, but noted that the key to a successful fight is good cooperation of all stakeholders, as well as international cooperation and exchange of data.

Strengthening cooperation between police, prosecutors and the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) will improve and strengthen the fight against money laundering, he said.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert said that Serbia has intensified its efforts to combat economic crime and said that this type of crime remains a threat to democracy and the rule of law.

The EU noted that Serbia has made significant progress in this area in 2009 and 2010, he said.

He stated that building financial system must continue in order to detect and prevent money laundering and expressed the belief that there is political will to fight against economic crime.

Director of Cooperation at the Council of Europe Maria Ruotanen pointed out that the prevention of money laundering and financing terrorism is essential to the development of democracy and the rule of law, adding that the Serbian government in previous years has taken a lot of courageous steps in this area.

Today's meeting represents the beginning of a joint project of the EU and the Council of Europe in order to help the fight against money laundering and financing terrorism and the main beneficiary of the project is the Directorate for Anti-Money Laundering.

The project, whose implementation is three years and is worth €2.2 million, is financed by the EU and the Council of Europe.

Source: Balkans.Com

Former Interpol Mexico Director Faces Money Laundering Charges

The former director of Interpol Mexico, who is being held in prison, will be prosecuted on money laundering charges, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Rodolfo de la Guardia’s prosecution will move forward now that a criminal court has ruled in favor of the AG’s office, overturning a decision by a federal judge, prosecutors said.

De la Guardia has been held at the prison in Tepic, a city in the western state of Nayarit, since January 2009 on organized crime, drug and other charges.

Prosecutors allege that the former Interpol director was on the payroll of the Beltran Leyva cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in Mexico.

De la Guardia was in charge of assigning the heads of the field offices of the defunct AFI, Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI, allowing him to place agents the cartel had on its payroll in key posts, the AG’s office said.

The former Interpol director was paid $10,000 a month by the cartel for his services, the AG’s office said, adding that he has not been able to legally account for the money.

De la Guardia was arrested during “Operation Clean-Up,” which the government launched in March 2008 to root out corruption.

The Beltran Leyva cartel managed to infiltrate the security forces and put Noe Ramirez Mandujano, who served as Mexico’s drug czar, on their payroll.

Ramirez Mandujano was arrested in November 2008 during the operation, which targeted corrupt officials in the upper ranks of the Federal Police and AG’s office.

The former drug czar had been taking $450,000 monthly from drug traffickers, officials said.

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune