As the Danske Bank AML disaster continues to snowball, so the regulators are turning up the heat on each other.

So at least one question has an answer, Who watches the the Watchman?  The EBA apparently!


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-24/danske-money-laundering-scandal-leads-to-eu-probe-of-supervisors

The European Arrest Warrant: Are the UK Judiciary asleep at the wheel?

I for one have always harboured severe reservations about the "apolitical" nature of European Arrest Warrants (EAW). 

The link below links to an excellent article which appears to suggest an unhealthy between the EU and a recent member's desire to join the free movement area.


New evidence of corruption in Romania casts doubt on the European Arrest Warrant

Negative news or negative fact?   HMRC, an arrest, the collapse of a business and an abuse of process.    “The original accusations were made by individuals to forward their own commercial interests and accepted by authorities although they had proof to the contrary,” Oh and the chances of a UK Government Department holding itself accountable...Don't hold your breath. hashtag#HMRC hashtag#failedprosecution # hashtag#abuseofprocess

HMRC launches internal investigation into conduct of officers involved in flawed prosecution of London restaurateur

telegraph.co.uk

Another Extradited Brit Pleads Guilty in USA Court

Christopher Tappin became, this afternoon, another white collar crime statistic in the continuing UK:US extradition saga.  Thirty Three months and a small fine on admitting one count.

Details of the sentencing as reported by the Daily Mirror here: Christopher Tappin jailed for 33 months.

More on this story and the extradition problem later.

Happy New Year to you all!

10 January 2013.

A useful overview of the Christopher Tappin case from today's Daily Mail:

Christopher Tappin JAILED 33 months Pennsylvania prison

Policing allegations of white collar crime seriously...?

The Daily Telegraph  has today run an update on the current Hewlett Packard  / Autonomy fraud spat, based upon HP's annual SEC return.  HP reveals DoJ has opened probe into Autonomy fraud claims

Now as soon as this headline leapt out to me my mind started down the rough aand ready path of: The US Dept of Justice, fraud allegations made concerning the sale of a UK company, US law and extraterritorial reach, US prosecutorial guidelines, possible deferred prosecution agreements, an unbalanced extradition agreement, a US Company on the ropes. 

Orange jump suits anyone? 

I believe that those with an interest in learning the differences between how the US and UK attempt to police allegations of serious fraud should find the Autonomy story the one to watch in 2013.  The AML Watchman certainly will be. 

Feel free to comment.

Happy Holidays people. 

Mahdi Hashi: Has the Home Office plumbed new depths of sleaze in the "fight against terrorism?"

Back in the summer of 2012, the Home Office accused a man from north London of being an Islamic extremist and then revoked his British citizenship.  The BBC reported (in November) that the Home Office said he was considered a threat to UK national security due to his "extremist" activities.  (Original BBC post here: Mahdi Hashi has British citizenship revoked for 'extremism'  )


The UK government has since made no further comment.

Mr Mahdi Hashi

However, the family and friends of Mahdi Hashi, 23, from Camden, claim the government acted because he had refused to become an informant for the security services.   At that time it was thought that Mr Hashi was thought to be in a jail in East Africa.   And what do we find reported today in the Mail on Sunday?   Family stunned a man stripped of UK passport appears New York court

 

IMHO, this raises quite a few significant questions that need to be addressed.

For example:

• What was the role of the Home Office and the UK security services in this episode?
• Would the UK Government be held accountable by Parliament for its action in this matter?
• In other words; "quis custodiet ipso custodes?" or in English, "Who guards the guards?"
• Did Mr Hashi and his family get any reasonable chance to challenge the Governments assertion of terrorist activity in a UK court?
• Was a deal done with the FBI in order to circumnavigate the current, grossly unfair UK:US extradition treaty? 

 I'll be returnng to this story and why I fear the Home Office is continuing to drive dangerous an worrying wedges between the muslim and non-muslim citiens of this country in future blogs and examining what is happening in this case more closely.

 

You are, of course, welcome to comment should you so wish.

 

 

Swiss Banker Jailed! But not for the reason you think!

The Daily Mail has today reported the result of an appeal by Swiss prosecutors.

A wealthy 65-year-old banker and wife took her wheelchair-bound 74-year-old husband from Zurich, Switzerland to India, ostensibly for the trip of a lifetime and then left him there! 

The woman - who had been paying £6,000 a month in care bills - took her husband to a poverty-stricken suburb of New Delhi and paid a family £1,500 a month to take him in and then returned home.  Now there's a woman who outsourced to max.

She argued in court that her husband would benefit from a "warm climate" where as her significant other was dead within 9 months of his arrival due to a "lack of care and poor hygiene".

But a prosecutor told a Swiss court court: 'Her act was the utterly cynical disposal of an old and disabled person to save money....he died alone in a strange land, without familiar faces around him and with no possibility of communication with his new carers.'

The woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, was initially jailed for six months after her first trial last year, but prosecutors successfully appealed the sentence and she was jailed for four years this week for kidnapping.

Given the the rampant immorality apparent callous disregard for everything but the money, one does wonder if she was a senior Swiss banker???

Source story here:  Wealthy banker takes disabled elderly husband holiday lifetime
Your comments are of course welcome.