-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-
from:
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Grabbe</A>
-----
Money Laundering
Liechtenstein Is Where It's At
The ostrich steak is good too.
BANKERS, politicians, judges and police officers have conspired with
international criminals to turn the principality of Liechtenstein into the
world's biggest money laundering centre, according to a report by the German
Federal Intelligence Service.
The placid Alpine statelet has long been famous for the secretive brass-plate
operations, negligible taxes and lax regulatory oversights that attracted the
likes of Robert Maxwell. But the leaked German dossier paints a startlingly
damning picture of the country. The report alleges that Russian underworld
chiefs, Italian Mafia bosses and Latin American drug barons - including Pablo
Escobar, the former chief of the Medellin cocaine cartel - have all been
targeted by a network of senior Liechtenstein figures and enticed to hide
their illicit fortunes there.
The document was compiled by the so-called "cyber-spies" of the Federal
Intelligence Service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), using surveillance
in Bavaria to tap into satellite and telephone communications in
Liechtenstein. Germany's authorities have long had neighbouring Liechtenstein
in their sights as the favoured tax haven for those who want a relatively
simple way to avoid paying tax in Germany.
The leaking of the report comes as Germany steps up its campaign for tax
harmonisation in Europe. The embarrassing dossier may give Berlin the
ammunition to increase its efforts to stop Germans investing funds in
Liechtenstein, a non-EU member. It also comes at a time when the Germans are
campaigning to impose a minimum 20 per cent withholding tax on savings
anywhere in the EU to discourage investing abroad.
Although the report was leaked only recently, it was submitted to the Berlin
government last year, several months before the current slush fund furore
erupted around the former Chancellor, Helmut Kohl. That scandal has further
tarnished Liechtenstein's name after it emerged that several secret payments
were channelled through the principality to Mr Kohl's Christian Democrats,
including alleged bribes from Elf Aquitaine, the French oil company.
Even Switzerland, which is not known for its fiscal transparency, is urging
its neighbour to put its house in order. Bernard Bertossa, the chief
prosecutor of Geneva, complained of a lack of assistance from Liechtenstein
in pursuing investigations and described the principality as "a very bad
pupil" when it came to learning the merits of international co-operation.
The controversy deepened last week when the monarch, Prince Hans Adam II,
revealed that an anonymous letter sent to the castle three years ago, naming
senior Liechtenstein officials allegedly involved in serious financial
crimes, was only passed on to him a month ago. The prince has also backed an
investigation into the allegations. But he was "extremely upset" by the
claims. His government says the report's contents have been misrepresented
and exaggerated.
Following the leak, Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, remarked: "The
secret document reads like the worst nightmare: an entire country, in the
middle of Europe, appears to be in the service of criminals from all round
the world. The findings destroy once and for all what was left of
Liechtenstein's battered reputation."
Liechtenstein consists of 62 square miles of mountains, valleys and timber
chalets. Its capital, Vaduz, is dominated by the prince's medieval castle.
Little of its income is generated from outside the financial world. The
country's population of 32,000 is a close-knit and affluent community whose
wealth is grounded on watertight secrecy laws covering banking, taxation and
financial affairs. Laws have been comprehensively abused through hundreds of
anonymous trusts and foundations, according to the BND.
Leading Liechtenstein financiers deny the claims. Prof Herbert Batliner, one
of the country's most important trustees, insists that he avoids problems by
accepting no customers from the former Soviet Union and none who turn up with
briefcases full of cash. "They don't get past the front door," said Prof
Batliner, whose name was on German front pages last week in connection with
the Kohl affair.
The BND lists individuals and foundations allegedly involved in money
laundering. One former government politician, for example, is said to have
organised meetings with the "financial managers of South American drug clans"
for many years. The report describes "a network of relationships between
high-ranking officials, judges, politicians, bank managers and investment
advisers who assist each other with illegal financial transactions on behalf
of international criminals".
Even the principality's courts have proved obstructive. When Germany applied
for the extradition of two Liechtenstein-based Swiss financiers it was turned
down by the Supreme Court in Vaduz. The court ruled that extradition would
have been a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights as the men's
children would have been deprived of their fathers.
The London Telegraph, January 23, 2000
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Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
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