Money Laundering Bulletin

High up, if not top of the money laundering and terrorist financing risk league, the states of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) agreed in late 2004 to collaborate more closely in combating illicit finance. One result of their Bahrain meeting was the establishment of the Financial Action Task Force Style Regional Body (FSRB) MENA FATF. Paul Cochrane in Beirut considers its impact.

In the very recent past, the Pacific islands were a byword for non-existent or at best wholly ineffectual money laundering controls. Undoubtedly serious concerns persist but there are also signs of change as efforts by Australia, New Zealand and the regional AML bodies to assist the smaller jurisdictions start to gain traction. Symon Ross reports from Auckland.

Jane Earl, Director of the UK Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), is disappointed at the rattle from the tinbox of realised receipts. The actual sum collected though civil recovery, criminal confiscation and taxation cases in the year to 31 March 2006..

India - a US$692 billion economy, the tenth largest in the world and growing at 8% annually (source: World Bank) – only recently set up a Financial Intelligence Unit; it still has much to prove. Raghavendra Verma reports from New Delhi.

Let’s not beat ourselves up, writes Richard Cumming, money laundering is a very difficult offence to detect although, paradoxically, once detected, there are now much more wide-ranging powers to prosecute and confiscate assets under the..

First, writes Sue Grossey, I must apologise for my absence from the pages of MLB for the past two issues: I was writing my second book for MLROs and did not feel that I could do justice to my regular articles for you alongside such a large writing project. However, I have still been reading and researching as avidly as ever, and as I’ve been tracking money laundering developments over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed a preponderance of stories featuring Asian countries. So this article is a brief Cook’s Tour of the Asia-Pacific region from a money laundering perspective.

AML - a senior management role Before the Financial Services Authority’s recent Handbook changes - removal of the Money Laundering Sourcebook and the new requirement to appoint a senior manager with responsibility for AML – it was clear..

by Philip Robinson, Financial Crime Sector Leader, FSA