EUROPE PLACES PANAMA ON “BLACK LIST” & IS NOW BEING THREATENED BY PANAMA |

FROM THE - CHRONICLES of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA~
~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~

PANAMA DEMANDS THAT THE EU RECONSIDER ITS PLACEMENT WITH TAX HAVENS

The Panamanian Foreign Ministry has demanded that the European Commission revisit its designation of the country as a non-cooperating tax haven jurisdiction. The government agency stated, in a press release, that the EU decision was "not grounded on an objective evaluation."

Panama was placed, last year, on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) "Grey List,"  and it is feared that it will, in 2016, make the organization's Black List, due to the rampant money laundering, and terrorist financing, occurring in Panama City banks. AML/CFT compliance is effectively ignored in the banks, in favor of the lucrative accounts of corrupt PEPs, from both Panama & Venezuela, and narcotics profits.

                                 

The new, reformist government of President Varela, has, thus far, failed to attack bank money laundering, although the anti-corruption campaign has been targeting corrupt former government officials, who have bled billions from the government treasury, and taken illegal insider trading profits. Unless and until there is real AML in Panama, it is not expected that neither the European Commission, nor the FATF, will back off, in their designation of Panama as a tax haven.  

Read More on: www.wantedsa.com

FINANCIAL CRIME IN PANAMA OUT OF CONTROL

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~ Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock

FATF SHOULD BRING BACK THE NCCT LIST, AND NAME THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) no longer "names & shames" the jurisdictions where money laundering and terrorist financing run rampant, but I believe that it is time to return to that highly effective practice, and my first candidate is the Republic of Panama, where, in my humble opinion, financial crime, and especially money laundering and terrorist financing, are out of control.

 

Why Panama first and foremost ? Here are but a few of the red flags that I am aware of:

 

(1) Money laundering of criminal profits, especially those originating from Venezuela and Colombia, into and through major Panamanian banks, is widespread.

 

(2) Enforcement of the existing anti-money laundering laws is virtually non-existent.

 

(3) A number of prominent, and sanctioned, Latin American and Middle Eastern and terrorist groups are moving money through Panamanian banks; some even have permanent account relationships there. Funds from some groups are then transferred to Beirut, and others to offshore tax haven countries; some money even enters the United States, where it could forseeably fund terrorist actions.

 

(4) The Venezuelan air bridge, business jets transporting illicit bulk cash, and arriving regularly at Panamanian general aviation airports, operates without any serious interference from local law enforcement.

 

(5) Foreign nationals who are the victims of financial crime in Panama rarely obtain justice, through the corrupt criminal court system. The perpetrator's laundering of his illegally-acquired wealth, is never prosecuted in Panama.

 

(6) The involvement,  of Panamanian PEPs, including several at the ministerial level, in corrupt conduct, taints any serious efforts to reign in financial crime.

 

(7) The powerful Syrian Organized Crime cartel, which owns several banks, and has placed key people in most important government agencies, operates free of any government interference.

 

There are many more, I think it is high time to Bring back the NCCT List, and place Panama on it, so that US and EU banks can govern themselves accordingly.

_____________________________________________________________

 

READ MORE ON: www.wantedsa.com



PANAMA INFORMANT TRICKS CONFESSION OUT OF ALASKA DOCTOR

FROM THE - JOURNALS of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA ~

SNITCH IN PANAMA WITH STOCK FRAUD CASE IN USA ENTRAPS TAX EVADER FOR LESS PRISON TIME

Thanks to the U.S.A. crackdown on offshore tax evaders, it’s gotten harder to hide money from your ex-spouse. Striking evidence of that comes from a lawsuit the U.S.

 

Attorney for the Central District of California filed last month after Homeland Security Investigation

Agents seized $4.7 million from a Bank of America account in the State of Washington allegedly belonging to an Alaska M.D. intent on depriving his ex-wife of assets the court said she was due.

 

In a previously unreported “complaint for forfeiture” that reads like the plot for a B-movie, the government says Anchorage plastic surgeon Michael D. Brandner was in the middle of a contested divorce in May, 2008, when he drove from Alaska to Panama (more than 6,000 miles, according to Google maps) and deposited cashiers’ checks totalling $3.25 million into an account at Capital Bank in Panama.

 

In June 2008, after the Alaska court ordered Brandner to turn over his $1.26 million self-directed IRA held at Pensco Trust Co. to his wife, he moved that money to an account at  Bank of America in California, and then to the Panama account at Capital Bank, the government says.  Later, he shifted an additional $200,000 to Panama.

 

Here’s where the government’s offshore crackdown comes in: Back in 2008, when the doc first allegedly moved money to Panama, the Central American country was a notorious haven from both the Internal Revenue Service and legitimate creditors.

 

But in November 2010, in a bid to win Congressional approval of a Free Trade Agreement, Panama signed a tax cooperation and information exchange agreement with the U.S.

 

In May 2011, Dr. Brandner’s  Panamanian advisor—who it turns out, was cooperating with  U.S. authorities in a separate U.S. stock fraud case—warned him the tax treaty might affect his ability to keep assets hidden from his wife. The "Snitch" convinced Brandner that the best way to protect his money going forward would be to put it in a U.S. bank account ostensibly owned by a foreign corporation.

 

The doctor followed this dubious advice, and in August 2011 opened an account in the name of the foreign corporation at a Bank of America branch near SeaTac airport in Washington State.

 

By Sep. 12, 2011, he had wire-transferred all the money from Panama  at Capital Bank  to go to the Bank of America account, and Homeland Security swooped in and seized it.

 

Compounding the 63-year-old doctor’s potential legal problems:  The "Informant" reminded Brandner (during a conversation monitored by law enforcement) that he had told him he needed to file an FBAR form reporting his foreign account to the Treasury.

 

The doctor, according to the government, acknowledged that he knew he had to file an FBAR and said he hadn’t done so—-a violation that makes the funds subject to forfeiture. (The government also alleges it can keep the money for violations of the federal wire fraud statutes.)

 

The Informant is known to WANTED SA and the name will be released accordingly.

 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

READ MORE ON: www.wantedsa.com

TWENTY DISTRIBUTORS OF ANONYMOUS PREPAID CARDS ARE OPERATING FREELY IN PANAMA.

There are more than twenty companies, currently operating in the Republic of Panama, who are distributing anonymous prepaid debit cards*, and which are not requiring the customers to properly identify themselves, or to disclose the Source of Funds. The cards are uploaded prior to delivery; there is no limit on the number of cards a user can acquire, and they can be redeemed literally anywhere in the world. The number of criminal, terrorist financing, and sanctions evasions uses for these cards is infinite.Who owns these companies, and how did they obtain government approval to operate ?

 Some of the individuals involved are close relatives of senior government officials; others are known to have made substantial payments to corrupt officers in the relevant regulatory agencies. These illegal payments actually continue to be made after the necessary approvals are obtained. Employees at the card companies' local offices are also allegedly receiving illegal gratuities to approve these companies.Why are anonymous prepaid cards such a major industry in Panama ? Inasmuch as a significant number of the parties involved are known to be Venezuelan nationals, (some of whom who have accounts at the Venezuelan banks with branches in Panama City), and their illicit purposes, and uses for these cards, include:

(1) Evading the global sanctions in place against Iran.

(2) Terrorist financing: criminal profits, earned by Hezbollah Venezuela, being transferred to Beirut.

(3) Funds obtained by corrupt Venezuelan Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), being bribes, kickbacks, government money stolen from accounts, and money from padded government contracts.

(4) Narcotics profits.

Though complaints regarding some of these companies were filed with the appropriate Panamanian ministries in the past, investigations have not been conducted, and it is understood that certain corrupt officials were responsible for quashing all enquiries. These same officials are alleged to have received illicit compensation from operators of the anonymous card companies.

Likewise, though complaints were also lodged with senior local officers at the card companies, in Panama City, these were also dismissed out of hand, without any investigation.Some of these anonymous card distributors are now believed to be under investigation in Panama City. When more information becomes, known, we shall update this story. If a bank customer attempts to give you a debit card that does not have his or her name imprinted upon it, make a copy of the card, decline to accept it, and immediately report it as a suspicious activity, to your regulator, and to bank counsel, who may choose to notify law enforcement.

______________________________________________________________________

* These cards are also known as Stored Value Cards.

~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock ~