News
U.S. Banks Helped Afghan Officials Launder Millions in Corrupt Funds: Source
By Colby Adams
printU.S. officials believe that representatives of at least two major American banks agreed to help top Afghan officials disguise hundreds of millions of dollars in corrupt funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. The banks, which are among the largest in the United States, maintained accounts for Afghan ministerial officials following meetings in Dubai and Kabul, despite knowledge that their deposits were likely embezzled from development funds or possibly the proceeds of drug trafficking, according to the individual, who reviewed intelligence data from multiple sources. The U.S. bank officials "aggressively pursued the money in multiple conversations" and advised...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Subscribe
Learn More
Related News
ACAMS moneylaundering.com recently spoke with officials from the FBI's kleptocracy squad about the unparalleled cooperation and inevitable difficulties in following the money.
Dubai's economic downturn has made the emirate more cooperative in enforcing international sanctions but has also given the emirate less incentive to crack down hard on regional money laundering, say analysts.
Officials are concerned that Iran may have "sleeper cell" agents in the Arabian Peninsula conducting financial transactions and preparing potential retaliatory action for the Persian country, according to a professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
A New York City councilman is charged with laundering money stolen from public funds, a prominent car dealership owner is accused of bilking cash from Chrysler and the UAE sees a 48 percent jump in suspicious transaction reports, in this week's news roundup.
Africa is fast becoming one of the world's largest hubs for smuggling cocaine, heroin and prescription drugs from South America and Asia into Europe and the United States, according to a United Nations watchdog group.
The United Arab Emirates should immediately begin work on a national plan to better protect its economy from money launderers and terrorist financiers, an intergovernmental watchdog said Friday.
The United Arab Emirates, a key oil producer situated between Iraq and Iran, has failed to adopt a coherent national strategy against money laundering and terrorist financing, despite the country's rapid influx of foreign capital over the past decade, the IMF said Friday.