International Money Laundering
A spoof spy caper is currently being played out by the tiny Alpine
principality of Liechtenstein and the vast might of euro zone superpower
Germany. It involves allegations of drugs money shipped by shady
Colombian cartels under the guidance of the Russian Mafia and the
suing of Germany’s intelligence agency by the former prime
minister of Liechtenstein.
The unusual public row over the contents of a secret spy report
comes after the former prime minister of Liechtenstein, Hans Brunhart,
now head of the small Verwaltungs und Privat Bank, said that he
was suing the German BND spy agency for defaming him and his bank.
International Money Laundering & The German Weekly News Magazine
The dispute started last year when the German weekly news magazine
Der Spiegel printed details from a leaked BND report on money laundering
in Liechtenstein. Part of the report said Brunhart’s bank had
been used to launder considerable sums of drugs money and that he
had played a central role. The report also said that Russian
criminal gangs and a Colombian cocaine cartel were funnelling profits
through the mountain tax haven.
The publication caused a storm of indignation in the tiny principality’s
government and among its 13 banks, hundreds of trustee companies
and the 32,000 subjects of the country’s ruler, Prince Hans
Adam II.
In September, Brunhart met German intelligence and government officials
to deny the allegations. The German government conceded that a summary
version of the report by an outside investigator from Austria, appointed
by Liechtenstein to analyse the case, did not prove the allegations
against Brunhart.
International Money Laundering & Kurt Spitzer
That investigator, Kurt Spitzer, found in August that Liechtenstein
was not a hotbed of money laundering for organised crime, although
he criticised several flaws in its fight against so-called hot money.
But last month BND spokeswoman Lydia Rauscher said: “We are
an intelligence agency, not a public prosecutor, If we have suspicions,
but are not 100 per cent sure, we must tell the German government.
“If the report was not correct, then Liechtenstein would
not have taken action in response.” After the row, Liechtenstein
moved to implement stricter laws in order to fight money laundering.
In announcing a suit against the BND, the Verwaltungs und Privat
Bank said that the agency had not exercised due caution when using
the allegations without saying that they were based on anonymous
documents containing no verifiable evidence.
VP Bank, founded in 1956, has assets worth some US$5.5 billion and
employs about 600 people.
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