Support EU-Digest, which has reported the news without any political affiliation since 2004, and opposes those
who seek to discredit and even destroy news organizations who believe
in the right of a free Press. You can do that by investing in an advertisement in EU-Digest, or by
giving a donation to keep our efforts going : to donate or advertise and pay by credit card,
click on: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=8BP18304C1657151J&useraction=commit&mfid=1567106786154_8591ae1288ebf
Showing posts with label Money Laundering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Money Laundering. Show all posts
9/13/19
3/6/19
EU Commission: Saudi Arabia evades EU dirty-money list for now (until the Commission gets its act together) - by Andrew Rettman
EU states have rejected a European Commission proposal to blacklist
Saudi Arabia and four US territories on money laundering and terrorist
financing grounds.
All 28 member countries' ambassadors blocked the move at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday (6 March) in an unusual step, an EU source said.
The decision is to be formalised by EU justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday, forcing the commission to submit a new proposal later down the line.
The commission had called to add Saudi Arabia and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as well as Panama, Libya, and some other countries, to what is known in the EU capital as the "dirty-money list".
But EU states complained about due process, saying the proposed new register had exceedingly loose legal criteria and that they had not been adequately consulted on its contents, the EU source noted.
"It was not about leaving off this or that country. It was disagreement on points of principle," the source said.
Note EU-Digest: What an amateurish performance by the EU Commission. Obviously Saudi Arabia and the other countriesm the Commission had called for to be put on the black list should all be on it, and would have been accepted by the member states, if only the proposed new register had a better legal criteria, and if member states had been closely consulted prior to putting out this blacklist.
Read more: Saudi Arabia evades EU dirty-money list for now
All 28 member countries' ambassadors blocked the move at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday (6 March) in an unusual step, an EU source said.
The decision is to be formalised by EU justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday, forcing the commission to submit a new proposal later down the line.
The commission had called to add Saudi Arabia and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, as well as Panama, Libya, and some other countries, to what is known in the EU capital as the "dirty-money list".
But EU states complained about due process, saying the proposed new register had exceedingly loose legal criteria and that they had not been adequately consulted on its contents, the EU source noted.
"It was not about leaving off this or that country. It was disagreement on points of principle," the source said.
Note EU-Digest: What an amateurish performance by the EU Commission. Obviously Saudi Arabia and the other countriesm the Commission had called for to be put on the black list should all be on it, and would have been accepted by the member states, if only the proposed new register had a better legal criteria, and if member states had been closely consulted prior to putting out this blacklist.
Read more: Saudi Arabia evades EU dirty-money list for now
12/23/16
Money Laundering: EU tables new rules to counter money laundering- by Irene Kostaki
The European Commission on December 21 proposed the tightening of controls on cash and precious metals that are transferred to the bloc from non-EU countries.
The proposal is part of the EU’s action plan to cut financing to Islamic State. It comes after the December 19 attack in Berlin in which 12 people were killed when a truck ploughed into a crowd at a busy Christmas market.
Under the new proposals, customs officials in EU member states will be given the powers of checking freight payments via cards and prepaid/debit cards.
This means that anyone carrying more than €10,000 in cash will be required to declare this at customs when entering the EU.
EU officials also said some of the recent attacks in Europe were carried out with limited funds, sometimes sent from outside the EU. These amounts probably originated from criminal activities, such as drug dealing, according to Vera Jourova, the EU Commissioner for Justice.
She presented the Commission’s proposal on freezing terrorists’ financial resources and on confiscating assets – even from those who are only suspected of being connected to criminals.
“There are a lot of new ways of transferring money and not all of those are covered in the EU-US scheme,” Julian King, the Commissioner for the Security Union, told a news conference in Brussels. He also said the Commission will study the impact of a possible EU programme and “report back by next summer”.
Read more: EU tables new rules to counter money laundering
The proposal is part of the EU’s action plan to cut financing to Islamic State. It comes after the December 19 attack in Berlin in which 12 people were killed when a truck ploughed into a crowd at a busy Christmas market.
Under the new proposals, customs officials in EU member states will be given the powers of checking freight payments via cards and prepaid/debit cards.
This means that anyone carrying more than €10,000 in cash will be required to declare this at customs when entering the EU.
EU officials also said some of the recent attacks in Europe were carried out with limited funds, sometimes sent from outside the EU. These amounts probably originated from criminal activities, such as drug dealing, according to Vera Jourova, the EU Commissioner for Justice.
She presented the Commission’s proposal on freezing terrorists’ financial resources and on confiscating assets – even from those who are only suspected of being connected to criminals.
“There are a lot of new ways of transferring money and not all of those are covered in the EU-US scheme,” Julian King, the Commissioner for the Security Union, told a news conference in Brussels. He also said the Commission will study the impact of a possible EU programme and “report back by next summer”.
Read more: EU tables new rules to counter money laundering
5/12/16
Britain: Cracking down on corruption: world leaders meet in London - by Catherine Hardy
The Channel island of Jersey is only 9 kilometres wide and 15 kilometres long. However, it manages an estimated 1.6 trillion euros of international wealth.
The authoritiesthere are also watching today’s events in London closely.
While the island has historically low tax, it is not a haven, according to officials like Jersey’s Assistant Chief Minister, Senator Philip Ozouf:
“Every individual that wants to open a bank account in Jersey, that information is going to be transferred automatically on an annual basis to their home tax authority, so there’s no hiding place. So it cannot be said that Jersey is a tax haven. This is a label which needs to be consigned to the history books.”
Jersey maintains a private register revealing the beneficiaries of each company.
However, it has refused calls from leading economists like Richard Murphy, to sign up to a public one.
He is one of hundreds of leading economists who are urging the UK government to persuade its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories like Jersey to sign up to one.
“A tax haven exists to create legislation for the benefit of people who aren’t there and provides a veil of secrecy to make sure those people can’t be identified to be doing so. That’s how we now define a tax haven.
This is what Jersey is doing – a low tax rate for the benefit of people who are not really in that island to undermine the tax system of another country.”
Read more: Cracking down on corruption: world leaders meet in London | euronews, world news
The authoritiesthere are also watching today’s events in London closely.
While the island has historically low tax, it is not a haven, according to officials like Jersey’s Assistant Chief Minister, Senator Philip Ozouf:
“Every individual that wants to open a bank account in Jersey, that information is going to be transferred automatically on an annual basis to their home tax authority, so there’s no hiding place. So it cannot be said that Jersey is a tax haven. This is a label which needs to be consigned to the history books.”
Jersey maintains a private register revealing the beneficiaries of each company.
However, it has refused calls from leading economists like Richard Murphy, to sign up to a public one.
He is one of hundreds of leading economists who are urging the UK government to persuade its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories like Jersey to sign up to one.
“A tax haven exists to create legislation for the benefit of people who aren’t there and provides a veil of secrecy to make sure those people can’t be identified to be doing so. That’s how we now define a tax haven.
This is what Jersey is doing – a low tax rate for the benefit of people who are not really in that island to undermine the tax system of another country.”
Read more: Cracking down on corruption: world leaders meet in London | euronews, world news
3/14/15
European Banking Industry - French prosecutor seeks trial in HSBC tax-dodging case - France 24
The French financial prosecutor's office has requested that HSBC's
Swiss private bank be sent to trial in France to answer charges over a
suspected tax-dodging scheme for wealthy customers, a judicial source
said on Friday.
The request brings the Swiss unit one step closer to facing trial after an investigation led by local magistrates into an alleged fraud involving thousands of French tax payers ended last month.
The probe was sparked by whistleblower Herve Falciani, a former IT employee at HSBC, who leaked the bank’s client data to the media, including French daily Le Monde.
Parent company HSBC Holdings Plc, the world’s second largest bank, faces a separate ongoing French investigation.
Prosecutors want the Swiss bank tried on suspicion of money laundering related to tax fraud and unlawful soliciting of clients, the source said, adding that the “habitual” manner of the alleged fraud made it an aggravated crime.
Read more: Business - French prosecutor seeks trial in HSBC tax-dodging case - France 24
The request brings the Swiss unit one step closer to facing trial after an investigation led by local magistrates into an alleged fraud involving thousands of French tax payers ended last month.
The probe was sparked by whistleblower Herve Falciani, a former IT employee at HSBC, who leaked the bank’s client data to the media, including French daily Le Monde.
Parent company HSBC Holdings Plc, the world’s second largest bank, faces a separate ongoing French investigation.
Prosecutors want the Swiss bank tried on suspicion of money laundering related to tax fraud and unlawful soliciting of clients, the source said, adding that the “habitual” manner of the alleged fraud made it an aggravated crime.
Read more: Business - French prosecutor seeks trial in HSBC tax-dodging case - France 24
10/17/14
The Netherlands: Huge Dutch, Turkish task force busts int'l crime ring
On Tuesday, October 14th, the police raided 20 addresses in
Gelderland. This was done in connection with an investigation into money
laundering. 275 police officers took part in the raids. Thus far four
people have been arrested.
The raids were the culmination of an investigation called “Fiorino” which began in 2013. A team of detectives were put together to investigate a group of nine suspects allegedly involved in money laundering. Cannabis cultivation played an important role.
The raids focused on the search for information, data carriers and money. The police searched corporate offices and homes in Arnhem, Velp, Oosterbeek, Duiven, Zutphen and Haaksbergen, among others. Cannabis plantations and/or remnants were found at three addresses. Three homes, 11 cars,the contents of a safe and a large amount of money were seized.
A number of addresses in Turkey were also searched during the investigation.
The investigation continues.
Read more: Huge Dutch, Turkish task force busts int'l crime ring - NL Times
The raids were the culmination of an investigation called “Fiorino” which began in 2013. A team of detectives were put together to investigate a group of nine suspects allegedly involved in money laundering. Cannabis cultivation played an important role.
The raids focused on the search for information, data carriers and money. The police searched corporate offices and homes in Arnhem, Velp, Oosterbeek, Duiven, Zutphen and Haaksbergen, among others. Cannabis plantations and/or remnants were found at three addresses. Three homes, 11 cars,the contents of a safe and a large amount of money were seized.
A number of addresses in Turkey were also searched during the investigation.
The investigation continues.
Read more: Huge Dutch, Turkish task force busts int'l crime ring - NL Times
3/4/14
AFRICA - Guinea and Guinea-Bissau : Drug Trade: Money Laundering
There has been a surge in cocaine trafficking
has transformed Guinea into West Africa's latest drug hot spot,
jeopardizing President Alpha Conde's efforts to rebuild state
institutions after a military coup and attract billion of
dollars in mining investment.
Locals and Latin Americans long-accused of smuggling are operating freely in the country, some with high-level protection from within Conde's administration, according to Guinean and international law enforcement officials and internal police reports seen by Reuters.
A lack of government figures makes estimating volumes tricky, but a foreign security source said one or two planes landed each month last year, ferrying in cocaine from Latin America mostly for smuggling to Europe.
"Whatever the attitude of the head of state, it's clear that traffickers can operate in Guinea.
They have deep roots there," said Stephen Ellis, researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in the Netherlands.
Ellis said drug money was having a corrosive effect on attempts by Conde's government to improve governance: "It's worrying because of the effects not just on the politics of Guinea, but the whole region."
A July 2013 report by Guinea's top anti-drugs agency, seen by Reuters, said traffickers were operating with protection of senior civilian, military and police officials. It said proceeds from the trade are laundered through various channels, including real estate, fishing companies and local mining operations.
Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are at the eastern end of "Highway 10", the nickname given by law enforcement officers for the 10th parallel north of the equator, the shortest route across the Atlantic, used by traffickers over the past decade to smuggle Latin American cocaine destined mainly for Europe.
United Nations experts estimated last year that some 20 tonnes of cocaine, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, pass each year through West Africa, which became an attractive transit point as U.S. and European authorities cracked down on more direct routes.
"People are frightened to take the lid off Guinea," said one foreign official, who, like others interviewed for the story, declined to be identified. "Authorities know traffickers are there but are powerless to do anything. They need international help."
Part of the problem is that Col. Moussa Tiegboro Camara, Guinea's top anti-narcotics officer, has been accused of involvement in a massacre of protesters under the military junta in 2009, making it impossible for Western nations to cooperate with him.
At a conference in Abu Dhabi in November, Conde touted the country as "open for business" in a bid to woo Gulf investors. He won billions of dollars in mining investment.
Yet Conde faces a tough battle for re-election in 2015. He must also accomplish the delicate task of keeping in check the armed forces, implicated in trafficking.
"We are dealing with a government that lacks the most basic forms of governance ... If you are a narco, the conditions you would want are all here," said a second Western diplomat.
EU-Digest
Locals and Latin Americans long-accused of smuggling are operating freely in the country, some with high-level protection from within Conde's administration, according to Guinean and international law enforcement officials and internal police reports seen by Reuters.
A lack of government figures makes estimating volumes tricky, but a foreign security source said one or two planes landed each month last year, ferrying in cocaine from Latin America mostly for smuggling to Europe.
"Whatever the attitude of the head of state, it's clear that traffickers can operate in Guinea.
They have deep roots there," said Stephen Ellis, researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden, in the Netherlands.
Ellis said drug money was having a corrosive effect on attempts by Conde's government to improve governance: "It's worrying because of the effects not just on the politics of Guinea, but the whole region."
A July 2013 report by Guinea's top anti-drugs agency, seen by Reuters, said traffickers were operating with protection of senior civilian, military and police officials. It said proceeds from the trade are laundered through various channels, including real estate, fishing companies and local mining operations.
Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are at the eastern end of "Highway 10", the nickname given by law enforcement officers for the 10th parallel north of the equator, the shortest route across the Atlantic, used by traffickers over the past decade to smuggle Latin American cocaine destined mainly for Europe.
United Nations experts estimated last year that some 20 tonnes of cocaine, mostly from Colombia and Venezuela, pass each year through West Africa, which became an attractive transit point as U.S. and European authorities cracked down on more direct routes.
"People are frightened to take the lid off Guinea," said one foreign official, who, like others interviewed for the story, declined to be identified. "Authorities know traffickers are there but are powerless to do anything. They need international help."
Part of the problem is that Col. Moussa Tiegboro Camara, Guinea's top anti-narcotics officer, has been accused of involvement in a massacre of protesters under the military junta in 2009, making it impossible for Western nations to cooperate with him.
At a conference in Abu Dhabi in November, Conde touted the country as "open for business" in a bid to woo Gulf investors. He won billions of dollars in mining investment.
Yet Conde faces a tough battle for re-election in 2015. He must also accomplish the delicate task of keeping in check the armed forces, implicated in trafficking.
"We are dealing with a government that lacks the most basic forms of governance ... If you are a narco, the conditions you would want are all here," said a second Western diplomat.
EU-Digest
2/28/14
Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - by Mark Mackinon
The new Ukrainian government says it has been invaded by Russia, and
has appealed for the United States and United Kingdom to protect it, as
they guaranteed under a 1994 agreement.
The move came after pro-Russian gunmen seized both main airports on the Crimean Peninsula early Friday, a day after other militiamen took control of the regional parliament building. With gunmen in the building and the Russian flag flying from the roof, deputies appointed a new government and passed a motion Thursday calling for a referendum on the future as part of Ukraine.
The armed takeovers sharply escalate what had already been an extremely volatile situation in Crimea, a Russian-speaking region that has rejected the overthrow of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych and the rise to power of pro-Western forces in Kiev.
Also on Friday,
Swiss police raided the premises of a Geneva firm owned by Mr.
Yanukovych and his son Oleksander in an investigation into “aggravated
money laundering.”
In Kiev, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a resolution on Friday demanding that Russia halt steps it says are aimed against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis.
The parliament also called for guarantees of the memorandum signed by Ukraine, Britain, Russia and the United States in Budapest in 1994. That agreement guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty and current borders in exchange for surrendering the nuclear weapons that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It wasn’t clear whether the gunmen who seized the airports were Russian soldiers or pro-Russian militiamen. They wore no insignia, but carried automatic weapons and Russian flags into the airport.
Read more: Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - The Globe and Mail
The move came after pro-Russian gunmen seized both main airports on the Crimean Peninsula early Friday, a day after other militiamen took control of the regional parliament building. With gunmen in the building and the Russian flag flying from the roof, deputies appointed a new government and passed a motion Thursday calling for a referendum on the future as part of Ukraine.
The armed takeovers sharply escalate what had already been an extremely volatile situation in Crimea, a Russian-speaking region that has rejected the overthrow of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych and the rise to power of pro-Western forces in Kiev.
 |
| Swiss accuse Yanukovych of “aggravated money laundering.” |
In Kiev, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a resolution on Friday demanding that Russia halt steps it says are aimed against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis.
The parliament also called for guarantees of the memorandum signed by Ukraine, Britain, Russia and the United States in Budapest in 1994. That agreement guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty and current borders in exchange for surrendering the nuclear weapons that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It wasn’t clear whether the gunmen who seized the airports were Russian soldiers or pro-Russian militiamen. They wore no insignia, but carried automatic weapons and Russian flags into the airport.
Read more: Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - The Globe and Mail
12/20/13
Tax Evasion: Rich countries failing to address money laundering and tax evasion, says OECD
The world's richest countries are failing to deliver on their pledges to crack down on money laundering and tax evasion, which drains billions of dollars from poor countries, a report said on Wednesday.
The damning assessment from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 34 countries, comes despite tough rhetoric on illicit financial flows from leaders of the G8 group of industrialised countries, particularly the British prime minister David Cameron.
According to Global Financial Integrity, a US NGO, illicit financial flows from developing countries between 2001 and 2010 reached $5.8tn, with China responsible for almost half of the total – five times as much as the next highest source country, Mexico.
At a time of declining official development assistance, donors and aid recipients see the loss of revenues to poor countries through illicit flows as an increasingly urgent problem. The OECD report measures for the first time its members' responses to the flows – money laundering, bribery by international companies, recovery of stolen assets and tax evasion, including abusive transfer pricing (pricing goods to minimise tax payments). In all areas, OECD countries are found wanting.
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing are governed by 40 recommendations drawn up by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body established in 1989. The recommendations cover areas such as beneficial – or true – ownership of companies, and customer due diligence and record-keeping (knowing customers and understanding their risk profiles).
On average, OECD countries' compliance with key recommendations on money laundering is low, said the report. The lowest areas of compliance includebeneficial ownership and politically exposed people (prominent individuals who can abuse their position).
Read more: Rich countries failing to address money laundering and tax evasion, says OECD | Global development | theguardian.com
The damning assessment from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 34 countries, comes despite tough rhetoric on illicit financial flows from leaders of the G8 group of industrialised countries, particularly the British prime minister David Cameron.
According to Global Financial Integrity, a US NGO, illicit financial flows from developing countries between 2001 and 2010 reached $5.8tn, with China responsible for almost half of the total – five times as much as the next highest source country, Mexico.
At a time of declining official development assistance, donors and aid recipients see the loss of revenues to poor countries through illicit flows as an increasingly urgent problem. The OECD report measures for the first time its members' responses to the flows – money laundering, bribery by international companies, recovery of stolen assets and tax evasion, including abusive transfer pricing (pricing goods to minimise tax payments). In all areas, OECD countries are found wanting.
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing are governed by 40 recommendations drawn up by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body established in 1989. The recommendations cover areas such as beneficial – or true – ownership of companies, and customer due diligence and record-keeping (knowing customers and understanding their risk profiles).
On average, OECD countries' compliance with key recommendations on money laundering is low, said the report. The lowest areas of compliance includebeneficial ownership and politically exposed people (prominent individuals who can abuse their position).
Read more: Rich countries failing to address money laundering and tax evasion, says OECD | Global development | theguardian.com
5/22/13
EU summit tackles tax fraud and energy: "special interest groups and political allies oppose"
 |
| Money laundering - Tax Fraud |
The EU estimates that Europe loses an income of a trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) every year through tax fraud. MEPs often describe in imaginative detail what they could do with all that money, and complain that ordinary people are often forced to make up for rich people's lost contributions through higher taxes and duties.
Udo Bullmann, German Social Democrat MEP and finance policy specialist, summed up the feelings of many European parliamentarians of various countries and political affiliations: "It's no longer acceptable that the European states are financed exclusively by people who either can't run away or are too decent to do so."
EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta welcomes the fact that tax fraud is finally going to be discussed by government leaders, despite the fact that finance ministers recently agreed to work together more closely to tackle tax fraud and evasion. Semeta couldn't conceal the fact that he'd "hoped for more ambition, binding agreements, and shorter deadlines."
Read more: EU summit to tackle tax fraud and energy | Europe | DW.DE | 22.05.2013
4/14/13
Tax Evation In Europe: EU’s biggest states vow to fight tax evasion
 |
| Money Laundering |
The finance ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain and Poland announced their plans to push for more bank transparency within Europe and beyond.
“Nobody can deny that bank secrecy is outdated, that we need an efficient system to tackle evasion strategies,” French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told reporters, flanked by his counterparts from the other countries. “Our mission is to create momentum. When these six major capitals of Europe move together, it creates a strong signal which nobody can resist.”
George Osborne, Britain’s finance minister, said he was pushing for more transparency from the UK overseas territories of the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.
The announcement adds to pressure on Austria to sign up to EU rules for the automatic exchange of information on bank depositors. It follows Luxembourg’s decision this week to share foreign bank account details with EU governments from 2015, bringing it into line with all other member states bar one - Austria.
Earlier, however, Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter dismissed exchanges of information as an invasion of privacy and criticised other countries for failing to tackle what she called the real “hot spots” of money laundering.
“Austria is sticking to bank secrecy,” Fekter told reporters, placing her country in a minority of one when discussions on the issue among 27 EU ministers get fully under way on Saturday.
She attacked the Group of 20 top economies for not taking “any step to close the money laundering in all the islands like Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands or ... in Delaware”.
EU leaders will also discuss how to combat the tax haven issue when they meet next month, said the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.
“We must seize the increased political momentum to address this critical problem,” Van Rompuy, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, said in a broadcast statement.
Read more: EU’s biggest states vow to fight tax evasion - European Union - FRANCE 24
3/5/13
Euro zone to bail out Cyprus – but money laundering must stop - by A. Breidthardt and Jan Strupczewski
The troika of European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank will send a mission of experts to Cyprus on Tuesday for a technical analysis of the country’s financing needs and to get a better understanding of the new Cypriot government, ECB board member Joerg Asmussen said.
President Nicos Anastasiades promised on Thursday to work for a swift deal to prop up the island’s banks, which need capital of €8-billion to €10-billion ($10.7-billion to $13.4-billion). The total bailout, including financing for general government operations and to finance existing debt, could be up to €17-billion, equal to Cyprus’s annual economic output.
Two euro zone officials said the ministers who met in Brussels did not agree on how best to finance the bailout, but were committed to a deal by the end of March.
Removing one of the stumbling blocs for an agreement, the new Cypriot authorities had agreed to an independent review of how Cypriot banks are implementing anti-money-laundering laws, the euro zone statement said.
That is likely to appease Germany, which has raised concerns about money-laundering on the island.
Read more: Euro zone to bail out Cyprus – but money laundering must stop - The Globe and Mail
President Nicos Anastasiades promised on Thursday to work for a swift deal to prop up the island’s banks, which need capital of €8-billion to €10-billion ($10.7-billion to $13.4-billion). The total bailout, including financing for general government operations and to finance existing debt, could be up to €17-billion, equal to Cyprus’s annual economic output.
Two euro zone officials said the ministers who met in Brussels did not agree on how best to finance the bailout, but were committed to a deal by the end of March.
Removing one of the stumbling blocs for an agreement, the new Cypriot authorities had agreed to an independent review of how Cypriot banks are implementing anti-money-laundering laws, the euro zone statement said.
That is likely to appease Germany, which has raised concerns about money-laundering on the island.
Read more: Euro zone to bail out Cyprus – but money laundering must stop - The Globe and Mail
2/13/13
Cyprus: money laundering and tax evasion : Eurogroup ministers raise the stakes for Cyprus
Euro zone finance ministers will let an independent commission examine charges of money laundering in Cyprus. Only then, they say, will they begin to think about an aid program for the highly indebted island country.
Cyprus' President Demetris Christofias is the EU's only communist head of state and has close ties to Moscow. Russian financial ties to the meanwhile crippled banks on the island country are just as close. Accusations of money laundering and tax evasion hang in the air - one reason the German government has hit the brakes on the issue of granting a rescue package to Cyprus.
Germany insists the bank issue has to be resolved first. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said the ministers decided Cyprus must "set up an independent institution to reliably document the implementation of money laundering standards in Cyprus." He added Cyprus must do more in that respect. Several German politicians have also demanded taking untapped Cypriot natural gas reserves as security for the bailout package.
Read more: Eurogroup ministers raise the stakes for Cyprus | Europe | DW.DE | 12.02.2013
1/22/13
Cyprus not playing by the rules as Russia-Cyprus Money Flows Imply Laundering - by Brian Parkin
Two-way investment flows between Russia and Cyprus creates suspicion that money laundering may be behind the transactions, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.
“Suspicion arises -- and it’s plain to see -- because Russian investment in Cyprus is so high and at the same time Cypriot investment in Russia is high,” Schaeuble said today on Germany’s ARD television 2+Leif program. “You may ask why Cyprus is the second-largest foreign investor in Russia and we need clear answers to that.”
Comments today by Schaeuble and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker underline calls for Cyprus to take action on money laundering as a condition for potential aid. A German secret service report on Cyprus that was sent in November to federal lawmakers said Russians deposited 26 billion euros ($34.6 billion) -- more than the size of Cyprus’s economy -- in Cypriot banks over an unspecified timeframe, according to Priska Hinz, a Green party lawmaker, who read the secret report.
While a report on the financial health of Cyprus by the so- called troika -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- and a February election in the country are set to delay decisions on aid, Germany is already outlining caveats it views as necessary conditions, including bank transparency and the primacy of first-stop help from Cypriot banks’ creditors and the government over aid from euro-area funds.
Cyprus needs to “play by the rules we have on money laundering in Europe, sign the same rule book,” said Michael Meister, the ruling Christian Democrats’ finance spokesman in parliament, in an interview today. “Only if bank creditors and the Cypriot state are unable to help can the euro area step in.”
Read more: Russia-Cyprus Money Flows Imply Laundering, Schaeuble Says - Bloomberg
“Suspicion arises -- and it’s plain to see -- because Russian investment in Cyprus is so high and at the same time Cypriot investment in Russia is high,” Schaeuble said today on Germany’s ARD television 2+Leif program. “You may ask why Cyprus is the second-largest foreign investor in Russia and we need clear answers to that.”
Comments today by Schaeuble and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker underline calls for Cyprus to take action on money laundering as a condition for potential aid. A German secret service report on Cyprus that was sent in November to federal lawmakers said Russians deposited 26 billion euros ($34.6 billion) -- more than the size of Cyprus’s economy -- in Cypriot banks over an unspecified timeframe, according to Priska Hinz, a Green party lawmaker, who read the secret report.
While a report on the financial health of Cyprus by the so- called troika -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- and a February election in the country are set to delay decisions on aid, Germany is already outlining caveats it views as necessary conditions, including bank transparency and the primacy of first-stop help from Cypriot banks’ creditors and the government over aid from euro-area funds.
Cyprus needs to “play by the rules we have on money laundering in Europe, sign the same rule book,” said Michael Meister, the ruling Christian Democrats’ finance spokesman in parliament, in an interview today. “Only if bank creditors and the Cypriot state are unable to help can the euro area step in.”
Read more: Russia-Cyprus Money Flows Imply Laundering, Schaeuble Says - Bloomberg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)