On Wed, 24 Apr 1996, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:
Speaking of the below information, what is anonymous banking like in Austria,
Not too bad, but there are crackdowns on anonymous and pseudonym accounts. MLAT's exist with the United States. Austria has been the focus of careful investigations and a lot of diplomatic pressure. EC membership will require compliance with standards for client identification. The article is somewhat in error. Anonymous accounts are no longer easy to open and generally require the voucher of a local attorney. Colombia, Do not travel to or use Colombian banks for your financial needs. Columbia is essentially lawless outside of the tourist areas and the concentration on drug investigations combined with the presence of the military for the purposes of law enforcement makes banking secrecy a near impossibility. Given a moderate budget I could have the banking information of any depositor in Columbia in short order. So could you. Venezuela, Banking secrecy is dependent on connections with local officials or 'corrupt' bankers. I don't find that Venezuela properly protects banking secrecy from a statuatory prespective. and Thailand? Better, but still subject to some criminal investigations and limited statuatory protection. In general adding a country to the money laundering offender list is a political decision and NOT demonstrative of a country's actual money laundering use. (Note that Vanuatu is not included, nor is Isle of Man). Mostly its a question of countries with corrupt officials who will look the other way, not of countries which strict banking privacy.
Austria, the only country in the EU which allows anonymous bank accounts, was adamant its current legislation did not run counter to the resolution.
This is nearly irresponsible reporting. --- My preferred and soon to be permanent e-mail address:unicorn@schloss.li "In fact, had Bancroft not existed, potestas scientiae in usu est Franklin might have had to invent him." in nihilum nil posse reverti 00B9289C28DC0E55 E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information Opp. Counsel: For all your expert testimony needs: jimbell@pacifier.com