From: nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 16:51:08 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Surprise - Anonymous Journalist Opposes Laundering [1/4]
Message-ID: <199801100844.JAA10497@basement.replay.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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


Fly low


S'n'S

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