A two-day workshop involving over sixty financial investigators in Basel, Switzerland has seen Europol and Interpol agree upon a range of measures designed to ramp up efforts to combat the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. The event saw attendance from over 60 international financial investigators. Crypto Finance Conference 2018
The price of a Bitcoin, which first surpassed the gold price nearly a year ago, is now worth more than seven times the value of an ounce of the metal (currently priced at $1,338). That’s after the Bitcoin price has tumbled recently to its current value around $10,000, half what it was worth at its all-time high last month.
The global context has changed dramatically: geostrategic fissures have re-emerged on multiple fronts with wide-ranging political, economic and social consequences. Realpolitik is no longer just a relic of the Cold War. Economic prosperity and social cohesion are not one and the same. The global commons cannot protect or heal itself. @WEF
Dagmar Frank announces the winner of W-T-W.org Women and Finance Cartoon of the Year.
Congratulations to Heinz Schwarze-Blanke for fighting corruption with “Money Laundering” Supervisory Board. On a website dedicated in part to the definition and exploration of corruption, Heinz Schwarze-Blanke’s subtle, portrayal of corruption’s insidious role in society highlights the problem with a cruel grace.
Welcome to this year’s Davos live blog. We’ll be bringing you highlights from the key sessions, commentary from around the globe, and some of the bits you might have missed. The live blog team will guide you through the meeting, from today, all the way through to the finish on Friday.
The doors might not yet be open officially, but here’s what you need to know before we get going.
Leaders from around the world are meeting in Davos at a time of global economic recovery, a time when governments must do all they can to sustain this momentum and lay the foundations for long-term growth. Helping women make the most of their potential is a key part of this equation.
Time is up for discrimination and abuse against women. The time has come for women to thrive. @wef
Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption
Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens…ICIJ
Tax-avoidance schemes are being offered up to the wealthy like vacation packages
Rosie Perper, Business Insider reports: Tax-avoidance schemes, that include creating offshore accounts in tax-free countries, are being offered to the wealthy like vacation packages. A screenshot of the TMS Group’s “International Business Company Packages” page shows several plans — called “The Indian Ocean,” “The Caribbean,” and “The Oasis” — being offered to businesses or individuals shopping around for the best place to open up an offshore account.
Two of the packages promote setting up a company in one country, then creating a business address and offshore bank account in two more countries. Seychelles and Belize are offered as possible locations for the company set-up, while Malaysia is the chosen country for business addresses.
Another site, Offshore Desk, offers an €1890 ($2,300 USD) “Seychelles Package,” allowing taxpayers of any country to incorporate a business in Seychelles and a bank account in Cyprus. Similar packages for offshore accounts in Vanuatu and Delaware, are shown on the site accompanied by flashy photos and low-cost promises.
The global context has changed dramatically: geostrategic fissures have re-emerged on multiple fronts with wide-ranging political, economic and social consequences. Realpolitik is no longer just a relic of the Cold War. Economic prosperity and social cohesion are not one and the same. The global commons cannot protect or heal itself.
Politically, new and divisive narratives are transforming governance. Economically, policies are being formulated to preserve the benefits of global integration while limiting shared obligations such as sustainable development, inclusive growth and managing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Socially, citizens yearn for responsive leadership; yet, a collective purpose remains elusive despite ever-expanding social networks. All the while, the social contract between states and their citizens continues to erode.
The 48th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting therefore aims to rededicate leaders from all walks of life to developing a shared narrative to improve the state of the world. The programme, initiatives and projects of the meeting are focused on Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World. By coming together at the start of the year, we can shape the future by joining this unparalleled global effort in co-design, co-creation and collaboration. The programme’s depth and breadth make it a true summit of summits…..WEFSurgical Comb-Over
Aljazeera’s Investigative Unit unravels a high-stakes international plot hatched by powerful Eastern European oligarchs to make millions of dollars from a crooked deal. According to one Ukrainian analyst: “It sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses. You can sign it with your blood.” The scheme involves using a web of offshore companies and international lawyers to raid US$160 million dollars under the noses of the authorities.
The money is effectively being stolen for a second time… the funds were initially frozen by Ukraine’s courts after its former president, Viktor Yanukovych, was discovered to have emptied the country’s treasury. The Oligarchs include an exiled gas billionaire guarded by Russian special forces, a Moscow property magnate and an Olympic show jumper on the run from Ukrainian authorities. The investigation shines light on the ever shifting battle between the oligarchs and global financial regulators. Al Jazeera Investigations
Turkish gold trader implicates Erdogan in Iran money laundering. He told jurors in a New York federal court that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions….. Department of Justice
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was not charged in the indictment, but he seemed to loom over the Federal District Court case in Manhattan during the monthlong trial and even before it began. Testimony suggested that he had approved the sanctions-busting scheme….NYtimes/ Turkey-Iran-Sanctions
Turkey’s Erdogan threatens to cut ties with US over jailing of banker and is now threatening the United States with a libel suit.
In Iceland, an example of what happens if you actually elect women. In Iceland, it’s now illegal to pay men more than women. Iceland legalises equal pay between men and women in a world first. A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.
The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.
Under the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies.
Those that fail to prove pay parity will face fines. “The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations … evaluate every job that’s being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally,” said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association….Iceland Country Legalise Equal Pay The Global Gender Gap Report 2017
Senior Moldovan Judge’s Daughter Lived In Posh London Flat — With Tainted Money.
Most of the money went to a real estate agency to cover the rent of a luxurious apartment not far from Buckingham Palace in which Mihaela Muruianu lived while studying in London. A smaller portion was deposited directly into her personal bank account.
She is the daughter of Judge Ion Muruianu, the former president of Moldova’s highest court. The money was funneled from Russia through a series of ghost companies registered in the United Kingdom (UK), and its precise origin is not known.
But the payments raise questions about the Muruianu family’s access to significant wealth, given that their total declared income for 2012 stood at 752,000 lei ($62,000) – a little less than the $66,000 estimated cost of the apartment for a single year.
When reached for comment, the judge and his daughter both said they knew nothing about the Russian Laundromat. Mihaela Muruianu further denied any knowledge of the ghost companies from which the transfers originated.
“I do not know the kind of activity these companies are involved in or who their founders are,” Mihaela Muruianu said.
Money from Ghost Companies. The Laundromat scheme was elaborate, involving the fraudulent transfer of massive sums out of Russia and into the European Union with the help of corrupt Moldovan judges…. OCCRP.org
According to Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption watchdog, Moldova is the most corrupt country in south-eastern Europe, ranking 123rd out of 176 on the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index. In its 2015 report, TI noted that Moldova’s judicial system has been “compromised by the non-meritocratic promotion of judges and by selective justice applied to political competitors.”
New Scottish links to $20bn Russian Money-Laundering scheme as judge’s daughter paid by Edinburgh shell firm
Senior Moldovan Judge’s Daughter Lived In Posh London Flat — With Tainted Money.
