Category: Corruption

Money Laundering Probe Heartens Anti-Corruption Activists But Fails to Lift Pandora Papers’ Pall Over Seychelles

Bribery, Corruption
In handcuffs and a striped shirt, one of the Seychelles’ wealthiest and most powerful men shuffled toward prison after an unprecedented hearing last month. Mukesh Valabhji faces years behind bars for allegedly laundering $50 million and is among the first high-profile figures from the East African island nation’s efforts to cast off its reputation as a financial crime hotspot. Police arrested Valabhij last month when he alighted from his helicopter, on his return from a hotel he owns on the private island of Felicite, and later seized weapons at his home, according to local news reports. He was taken into…

Three Swiss Subsidiaries of the Oil-Related Group SBM Offshore Convicted of Corruption Offences

Bribery, Corruption
Bern, 23.11.2021 – The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has sentenced three Swiss subsidiaries of the multinational group SBM Offshore and ordered them to pay an amount of over CHF 7 million, including a fine of CHF 4.2 million. These three companies failed to take all the reasonable organisational measures required to prevent the bribery, of foreign public officials in Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria In a summary penalty order dated 18.11.2021, the OAG sentenced the Swiss companies SBM Holding Inc. SA, Single Buoy Moorings Inc. and SBM Production Contractors Inc. SA and ordered them to pay…

Head of Mexico’s FIU forced to resign after $35,000 cash is found on private jet carrying guests to his wedding

Bribery, Corruption
The head of Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) has been forced to resign following a scandal related to his wedding in Guatemala. Santiago Nieto, long seen as a trusted ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in his campaign to root out corruption, stepped down from the position on Monday. It came after Guatemalan authorities seized $35,000 in cash from a private jet carrying influential guests to Nieto’s wedding to Carla Humphrey, a counsellor with Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE), in the city of Antigua. Wedding guest Juan Francisco Ealy Ortiz, the president of the prominent Mexican newspaper El Universal,…

Tory Donor Mohamed Amersi Involved in Telecoms Corruption Scandal

Bribery, Corruption
A prominent Tory donor who contributed to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign was involved in one of Europe’s biggest corruption scandals, a BBC investigation has discovered. Mohamed Amersi has given nearly £525,000 to the party since 2018. Leaked documents reveal how he worked on a series of controversial deals for a Swedish telecoms company that was later fined $965m (£700m) in a US prosecution. Mr Amersi denies any wrongdoing. The 61-year-old is a corporate lawyer who worked as a consultant for Telia between 2007 and 2013. Working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Guardian, BBC Panorama has obtained…

Chinese Tech Giant Huawei had Secret Offshore Contracts With Men Linked to Serbian State Telecom Company

Bribery, Corruption
Amid a Chinese push to gain influence in Serbia, Huawei appears to have paid large sums to a former Serbian state telecom executive through an offshore shell company. Key Findings A former executive at state telecom company Telekom Srbija likely received over $1 million through an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands that had contracts with Chinese technology giant Huawei. The payments were linked to contracts with Huawei, some for consulting services that included introducing Huawei to government officials and arranging meetings for the Chinese company. In 2016, Huawei inked a major agreement with Telekom Srbija to overhaul Serbia’s…

US Returns to Equatorial Guinea Millions Seized from its Corrupt VP

Corruption
The U.S. will return US$25.6 million in assets purchased with the proceeds of corruption and seized from the Vice President of Equatorial Guinea to the African nation in form of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical equipment, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in a statement Monday. Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is also the son of the African nation’s president Teodoro Obiang, has been tried in several countries for corruption and money laundering. He has made headlines for his lavish lifestyle that includes the purchase of several yachts worth more than $100,000,000 a $1.3 million car, and a $677,000 weekend…

U.K. Fraud Watchdog Digs into Alleged Mine Bribes in D.R. Congo

Bribery, Corruption
The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating alleged corruption in mining deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where foreign companies purportedly bribed officials up to US$360 million between 2006 and 2011. U.K. investigators first referred the case to Swiss authorities in 2014, and again in 2019 on the back of related claims of money laundering. The March 30 Swiss Federal Criminal Court decision dismissing the appeal made by one of the companies in question, which reveals details about the case for the first time, was only recently made public. The judgment identifies an anonymous individual “C” as…

Africa Must Build Robust Financial Compliance Systems Against Financial Crime – President Akufo-Addo

Corruption, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated that for Africa to be able to transform herself, and become the epitome of economic empowerment and self-reliance, she needs to have the wherewithal to be able to protect and optimise the resources at her disposal. To this end, President Akufo-Addo, speaking at the EBII Africa Investments Risk and Compliance (IRC) Summit, on Friday, 30th July 2021, at the University of Oxford, has admonished African governments to build robust financial compliance systems, and ensure strict enforcement of these systems. Speaking on the theme “Financial Crime Compliance and ESG –…

New U.K. Sanctions Against Individuals Involved in Corruption Around the World

Corruption, Sanctions
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has announced further sanctions on individuals under the UK’s Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab today announces new UK sanctions against 5 individuals involved in serious corruption in Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Iraq sanctions target cases of serious corruption which have deprived developing countries of vital resources one of those designated spent millions of misappropriated funds on mansions, private jets and a $275,000 glove that Michael Jackson wore on his ‘Bad’ tour, another ruthlessly exploited public food programmes in Venezuela. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has today announced further sanctions on individuals under the…

Vatican Puts Cardinal in Financial Crime Trial

Corruption, Prosecutions
The Vatican City has taken an unprecedented step to bring a sitting Cardinal to trial to face the charges of financial corruption associated with investing in London’s luxury real estate using Catholic charity. The indictment of Giovanni Angelo Bechiu, who oversaw the agency responsible for the selection of Catholic saints until last year, shows a dramatic acceleration of Pope Francis. Willingness to reform the finances of the Holy Throne after decades of controversy. The Vatican City said a trial would begin this month to mark the Cardinal’s face with financial crime charges for the first time in modern Catholic history.…

Myanmar’s jade fuels the military

Corruption
Corruption in Myanmar’s jade industry extends all the way to the top of the country’s military, including the family of the country’s Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, UK-based NGO Global Witness claimed in its latest report on Tuesday. In the years preceding the February 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military tightened its grip on the lucrative jade trade, even as the new civilian-led National League for Democracy (NLD) administration attempted to reform it. “The military coup has triggered a new wave of violence in the conflict-ridden sector, demonstrating the danger of armed actors controlling the multibillion-dollar mining industry,” according to Global Witness. It…

New Magnitsky style sanctions regime will strengthen Britain’s toolkit for tacking global corruption and dirty money

Corruption, Sanctions
Transparency International UK welcomes the announcement of a new corruption sanctions regime by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. The new regime gives Britain the power to designate individuals and companies involved in serious corruption around the world, adding another option to the UK’s growing array of sanctions for corruption offences. The UK Government has published an initial list of 22 designated persons who are the first targets of the regime. Those that are designated will have their British assets frozen and be banned from travelling to the UK. The regime is international in scope, enabling the UK to align itself with…

Concern over corruption red flags in 20% of U.K.’s PPE procurement

Corruption
Full transparency over ‘vip’ lane and scrutiny of high-risk contracts essential to restore public trust April 22, 2021 – The way the UK Government handled bids for supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) and other COVID-19 response contracts appears partisan and systemically biased in favour of those with political access, new research from Transparency International UK finds. Read the report. Launched today, Track and Trace is the most comprehensive study to date of public procurement during the pandemic and involved a painstaking review of nearly 1,000 contracts worth a total of £18 billion. The report details how critical safeguards designed to…

2020 Corruption Perceptions Index Reveals Widespread Corruption is Weakening Covid-19 Response, Threatening Global Recovery

Corruption
Corruption and COVID-19 worsening democratic backsliding The 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released today by Transparency International reveals that persistent corruption is undermining health care systems and contributing to democratic backsliding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that perform well on the index invest more in health care, are better able to provide universal health coverage and are less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law. Read the report “COVID-19 is not just a health and economic crisis. It is a corruption crisis. And one that we are currently failing to manage,” Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency…

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon Loses $10 million over 1MDB Fines

Corruption
Goldman Sachs’ chief executive David Solomon will get a $10m (£7.3m) pay cut for the bank’s involvement in the 1MDB corruption scandal. 1MDB was an investment fund set up by the Malaysian government that lost billions due to fraudulent activity. The global web of fraud and corruption led to a 12-year jail term for Malaysia’s ex-prime minister Najib Razak which he is appealing. Goldman Sachs called its involvement in the scandal an “institutional failure”. Goldman Sachs helped raise $6.5bn for 1MDB by selling bonds to investors, the proceeds of which were largely stolen. Prosecutors alleged that senior Goldman executives ignored…

2020: We cast a cold eye over the 15 major highlights of a financial crime year in review

Bribery, Corruption, Money Laundering
As we near the end of one of the toughest years for people and businesses in decades, we take a look back at some of the biggest happenings in the world of financial crime, corruption and the laws in place to stop it. 1. Cryptocurrency: the way of the future2020 has seen governments across the world tighten their grip on virtual assets. They were once seen as an easy pathway to launder money, but this year, the trend accelerates away from that. This month, France announced sweeping new KYC measures for all crypto companies operating within its borders. Registration will…

Putin’s Ex-Son-in-Law Bought $380M Stake in Petrochemicals Giant for $100 – Investigation

Corruption
President Vladimir Putin’s former son-in-law purchased $380 million worth of shares in Russia’s top petrochemicals company for $100 after marrying the president’s daughter, according to a report by the iStories investigative outlet. Kirill Shamalov acquired 3.8% of petrochemicals producer Sibur through a web of offshore companies months after marrying Katerina Tikhonova in February 2013, iStories reported, citing private emails obtained through a massive data breach. Multiple media reports have identified Tikhonova as the younger of Putin’s two daughters. Shamalov previously estimated Sibur’s value at $10 billion, meaning that the $100 he had paid was 3.8 million times below market value.…

Apple’s Chief Security Officer charged with bribery

Corruption
Apple’s head of global security has been indicted on felony charges for allegedly offering bribes to California police officers in exchange for concealed firearms licenses, the Santa Clara district attorney’s office announced in a press release published on Monday. According to an indictment issued by a grand jury, Thomas Moyer, 50, is accused of offering to donate 200 iPads worth roughly US$70,000 to the local police force in exchange for four licenses that are required for individuals looking to carry a gun without revealing it. The deal was apparently “scuttled at the eleventh hour” last year, when police officers became…

European authorities crack down on arms traffickers

Corruption, Money Laundering, Organised Crime
Police in Europe cracked down on the illegal arms trade across the continent in two separate operations that saw 18 arrests, dozens of objects raided, nearly 200 firearms and millions in assets seized across the continent. Spanish authorities arrested seven suspects, seized 18 properties worth about 10 million euro (US$11.8 million) and froze over 50 financial products from a large organised crime group that transported armaments as large as tanks across the Mediterranean, and even once managed to break a compatriot out of a Greek prison. “The criminal network, made up of Latvian, Spanish and Ukrainian members, illegally transported Russian…

SFO secures £1.2m following investigation into West London property linked to Brazilian bribery scandal

Corruption
The SFO has today secured £1,198,424.78 from Julio Faerman, the owner of a £4.25m luxury apartment in West London which the SFO suspected to have been partly purchased with the corrupt funds of its owner’s criminal conduct. The Brazilian national was implicated in Brazil’s ‘Operation Car Wash’, which uncovered systematic bribery to win contracts from the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras. While under investigation by Brazilian prosecutors, Faerman admitted paying bribes to win contracts for the Dutch company SBM Offshore NV, for whom he acted as an agent. He is subject to a co-operation agreement with the Brazilian prosecuting authorities,…

Former Unaoil executive sentenced for paying bribes to win $1.7bn worth of contracts

Corruption
Basil Al Jarah has today been sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment for paying in excess of $17m in bribes to dishonestly secure approximately $1.7bn worth of contracts in post-occupation Iraq. Al Jarah, Unaoil’s former Iraq partner, conspired with others to pay millions of dollars in bribes to public officials at the South Oil Company and Iraqi Ministry of Oil. These bribes secured contracts for Unaoil and its clients to construct oil pipelines, offshore mooring buoys in the Persian Gulf, and other infrastructure projects, collectively worth just over $1.7bn. These contracts formed part of the Iraqi Ministry of…

INSIGHT: U.K. Tax Authority Getting Ready to Bite on Evasion

Compliance, Corruption, Fraud, Investigation
The U.K. tax authority is indicating its intention to enforce legislation and investigate corporations for failure to prevent tax evasion. Mukul Chawla QC and Kate Ison of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP review the current status of inquiries and discuss what action organizations need to take to ensure their procedures are robust and compliant. The focus by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on organizations, under the Criminal Finances Act 2017, for the corporate offense of failure to prevent tax evasion, appears to be making steady progress. The number of investigations and inquiries that HMRC is currently undertaking, and the wide…

What are the repercussions if a financial services firm is found guilty of facilitating tax evasion?

Corruption, Fraud, Investigation
The offence of failure to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion (also known as the Corporate Criminal Offence or CCO) was introduced with great fanfare following the government initiative; ‘No Safe Havens’, which was part of an international initiative to increase tax transparency. As of 31 July 2020, HMRC announced that they had 10 CCO investigations open and a further 22 ‘opportunities under review’, meaning that HMRC are considering whether to open an investigation. Within these 32 investigations or ‘opportunities’, HMRC have disclosed that over a third relate to businesses within the financial sector. Businesses in the financial sector are…

Danske Scandal Reveals Top-Down Culture That Silenced Staff

Corruption
The bank at the center of Europe’s worst ever money laundering scandal has yet to fully address the corporate culture issues that led it astray in the first place. That’s according to the watchdog that oversees Danske Bank A/S. Denmark’s biggest bank spent years locked in a top-down hierarchy that left its management cut off from people further down the organization, according to Jesper Berg, the director general of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. “You go from a very hierarchical institution to an institution where staff needs to flag mistakes and speak up more,” he said in a phone intervie “They…

AUSTRAC and Westpac agree to proposed $1.3bn penalty

Corruption, Money Laundering
Westpac and AUSTRAC have today agreed to a 1.3 billion dollar proposed penalty over Westpac’s breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act). Westpac and AUSTRAC have agreed that the proposed penalty reflects the seriousness and magnitude of compliance failings by Westpac. The Federal Court of Australia will now consider the proposed settlement and penalty. If the Federal Court determines the proposed penalty is appropriate, the penalty order made will represent the largest ever civil penalty in Australian history.  In reaching today’s agreement, Westpac has admitted to contravening the AML/CTF Act on over 23 million occasions, exposing Australia’s…

The Quiet Man in Stockholm Who Laundered China’s Oil Money for Iran

Corruption
This article from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Sweden’s Sveriges Television (SVT) is part of an investigation in which Courthouse News Service and NBC News are partners. By all outward appearances, Hatam Khatoun Nema was a small-time money changer working from a nondescript office in Järfälla, a workaday Stockholm suburb. In reality, the Swedish-Iranian businessman ran an obscure Hong Kong company, H M E A CO., LIMITED, that laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through a web of shell companies and businesses stretching from Singapore to Panama.  A major customer of Nema’s operation was the Islamic Republic of Iran. Between…

Lori Loughlin jailed over college admissions scandal

Corruption
Lori Loughlin, star of beloved US sitcom Full House, has been given a two-month prison sentence for paying $500,000 in bribes to get her daughters into the University of Southern California. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, will spend five months in prison for the same “breathtaking fraud”, a judge ruled.  Giannulli was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and do 250 hours of community service, while Loughlin will pay $150,000 and do 150 hours.  Prosecutors said Giannulli deserves a tougher sentence because he was “the more active participant in the scheme,” while Loughlin “took a less active role, but was nonetheless…

Insurance billionaire Greg Lindberg sentenced to 7 years in bribery case

Corruption
Greg Lindberg, the billionaire businessman at the heart of one of North Carolina’s worst government corruption scandals, will spend more than seven years in prison, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in Charlotte. U.S. District Judge Max Cogburn also ordered Lindberg to pay a $35,000 fine and placed him on three years’ probation for his scheme to bribe Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey with up to $2 million in campaign contributions. Eventually, Lindberg, one of the state’s largest political donors who wrote checks to both parties, funneled $250,000 earmarked for Causey through the state Republican Party, an illicit transaction handled by the party’s…