The following series of posts is extracted from E-Communist. In this article the writer (but a mere cog in the Anonymous Entity known as GovernMedia NLC), exhibits the guVermin cheerleading so pervasive among those in his/her profession. In keeping with the spirit of anonymous advocacy favoring global fiscal tyranny, "our" collectivistic comments are in brackets as indicated: [S'n'S] Originally assigned the staid title 'Money Laundering', "we" have taken the indecent liberty of naming each post separately: Part 1 "Know Your Journalist" [1/4] [1/4] ... countries set up the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) [not to be confused with the BATF] in 1989. Based at the OECD [worthle$$ bureaucracy #2] in Paris, this now has 26 member countries, which are supposed to abide by its 40 recommendations. Among other things, these encourage mutual assistance in laundering cases. International co-operation is also being fostered by financial-intelligence units [FiUs], some of which recently set up a special computer network to swap information about laundering cases. A statistical black hole What effect has all this had? It is hard to tell for sure, but such evidence as looks reliable is hardly encouraging [discouraging]. A report published in 1995 by AUSTRAC, [worthle$$ bureaucracy #3] Australia's financial-intelligence unit, concluded that between A$1 billion and A$4.5 billion ($740m-3.3 billion) was washed through Australia each year. The report noted that if this figure is accurate, then Australian poLice were recouping [recouping?, proceeds of voluntary exchanges are considered stolen when in fact those doing the "recouping" are the criminals] barely 1% of all the ["]dirty["] money that they [_]guess[_] is flowing into [but not flowing out of? It must be all those "dirty" foreigners corrupting the innocent Aussie drug addicts and tax evaders] the country--a surprisingly low figure given that Australia is widely acknowledged to have one of the most comprehensive anti-laundering regimes in the world. [so AUSTRAC thugs are basing their conclusions on guesstimates, which, if as accurate as they kinda sorta think they might be indicates: Minions of the Australian FIU stole, that is, recouped, some 10-45mil AUD in cash and an unspecified amount of other property, but this is "barely 1%" of the _potential_ bounty to be had in the lucrative worldwide industry of asset forfeiture. Allow me to "guesstimate" a couple of other conclusions they may have made: 1) AUSTRAC lacks sufficient funding (AUSTRAC clerks still lack vacation slush funds). 2) AUSTRAC lacks sufficient personnel (AUSTRAC entry teams are still without APCs and close air support).] When it comes to prosecutions of money launderers, few countries keep reliable statistics, often because laundering was only recently deemed a separate ["]crime["]. One that does is the Netherlands. According to its justice ministry, in 1995 some 16,125 [subjectively] ["]suspect["] transactions were reported to the country's financial-intelligence [looting] unit. Only 14% of these were sufficiently dubious [read: juicy confiscatable assets of sufficient size coming to their attention due to amateurish operations that lacked political protection which made these "suspect" assets worth the time and effort to grab] to pass to the poLice, and only 0.5% of the original total led to prosecutions. [no mention of the % of cases that led to confiscations] Anecdotal evidence suggests a similar lack-of-["]success["] elsewhere. Why aren't more laundrymen being caught? [what about laundrywomen, the sexist pigs!] The answer, say those leading the fight against dirty [free] money, is that most anti-laundering regimes are still in their infancy. [yet to grow into the horrid monsters of their wet dreams] But, they say, at least the situation is improving. [deteriorating] Stanley Morris, FINCEN's [worthle$$ named bureaucracy #4] director [thug], says undercover operations in America show that launderers' fees have risen from around 6% of the money washed in the early 1980s, to 25-28% today. The explanation is that laundering is getting harder and riskier--and hence more expensive. Some experts also claim that a recent increase in the ["]smuggling["] of cash across borders is a sign that [gasp] more ["]criminal["] ["]loot["] is shunning banks. [meaning people are fed up with American banks, American regulators and America in general: "sell off, cash in and drop out".] There has also been some progress internationally. A few well-known haunts of launderers, such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, have made it easier for bankers to report ["]suspect["] transactions [reclaiming lost virginity] without breaking bank-secrecy laws, and for their financial gumshoes to co-operate with foreign ones. [meaning they already have so much money on deposit that it won't effect profits significantly, besides which, the typical lazy African dictators' first choice remains CH and those who are concerned about such matters have long since moved to greener pastures anyway...] In February, Antigua, another Caribbean haven, closed five out of six Russian offshore banks because of concerns that they had been laundering money for Russia's mafia. [no security through obscurity there] The FATF has also cracked down. [pun intended?] Last year, for the first time, it publicly upbraided one of its members, Turkey, for not introducing an anti-laundering law. [Turkey, a typical 3rd world pit, is too busy stealing from its citizens via hyperinflation to bother with passing pro-looting legislation.] And it gave banks a warning abot dealing with Seychelles after the government offered anyone placing $10m or more in certain investments immunity from prosecution [no STO there either]. The law containing this open invitation [more like comic relief] to crooked cash has since been shelved.
E-Communist 25 St James's Street London SW1A 1HG www.economist.com
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