Not long ago, it's hours not even a day, a man drove, at high-speed a rented van along pavements and up streets in the face of incoming traffic in Toronto, Canada.The man has been arrested and is in custody. He has been named as Alek Minassian, aged 26. Whatever Minassian's motive, one thing is clear: publicity was inevitable because the choice of weapon, the fact that it's in Canada and the fact that it took place only a few kilometres from a G7 ministers meeting convened to discuss developments in terrorism and counter-terrorism. Media has provided blanket coverage around the world. It's time to think about that.
Early on Saturday morning,in Setapek, one of Kuala Lumpur's most racially and religiously integrated suburbs, two men in dark, full face, helmets sat on a rare, high-powered, motorcycle for some twenty minutes. As Palestinian FADI Mohammad al Batsh, 35, passed by on his way from his home to lead dawn prayers in his role as imam, the man on the back of the bike shot him. Police reports say that he was shot four times with a high degree of accuracy: there were only two stray bullets found out of evidence that ten shots were fired. Two men nearby were not harmed. This was not a simple murder, the circumstances suggest.
When Barnaby Joyce admits he was wrong, as he has done recently over his previous comments that a Royal Commission was appropriate to inquire into the management and practices of Australia's banks, it's obvious how things are going. It's starting to look as if the sector is going to get a huge shake-up - and the removal of many senior officers. One hopes they are replaced with competent bankers, not more recruits from consulting companies - or from the revolving door with government and quasi-government jobs.
We're delighted to say that the very first issue of World Money Laundering Report is now available to subscribers to the Financial Crime Group of publications.
This is more than a little bit scary. A criminal, exactly what kind isn't clear, has been reading the major Australian employment website Seek.com.au - and then he (it's almost always a "he") is sending invitations to become involved in money laundering or, possibly, to be a victim of a long-established scheme to defraud his victims. The scam letter is a collection of so many currently trendy phrases that it might be convincing - especially to someone who is in awe of cryptocurrencies, blockchain (as they call it) and so many other trigger words. Oh, and there's an interesting twist to the old version of this crime.
We can do no more than post the content of three spams that arrived in five minutes and urge readers to block the domain trixologyvapors.com to prevent this hyperactive spammer's material reaching staff.
Australian banks are getting a justifiable kicking in the media. and to a degree by regulators, after year after year of bad management, bad conduct and failure to put in place effective risk management and compliance policies and procedures especially in relation to money laundering, etc. But it would be wrong to read the headline that a consultant to Macquarie Bank has been convicted of money laundering means the bank made errors in law, although arguably there may have been an error in judgement.
There is suspicion, belief and knowledge. Then there is wilful blindness and, finally, sheer bloody mindedness aka stupidity. A solicitor was warned that her client should be the subject of proper KYC / CDD and her research showed a clear connection to alleged criminal conduct. She went ahead with the multi-million deal anyway and made no suspicious activity report. The fine might seem small and some would argue she should have been jailed but, as the first solicitor to be prosecuted for this conduct, the importance of the case comes not from the penalty but from the fact that it was brought at all, and that it was successful.
Ah, Shreveport. It's one of those picture postcard towns that seems more suited to a Nicholas Sparks novel or a Hallmark TV romance than to intrigue and dirty dealings. But...
The European General Data Protection Regulation is a fantastically complex piece of legislation but it is not an "Act" or, as Acts are called in the EU, a Directive.
It has been brought into law across the EU (and beyond) and will come into force on 25th May 2018.
Most importantly, it proves how domestic law in member states can be written by Europe outside the democratic process.
I get it. India has more than 1,000 million people and lots of them work in some IT related job and they all have to earn a living. But, why do they all have to plunder our details from domain name registrations and send us offers for their services. Do they not realise that there are hundreds, literally hundreds, of them doing that every single day.
Tata's Jaguar Land Rover has had an amazing run: it's profits have been spectacular and it has produced (admittedly having inherited some excellent work from Ford which sold the company on the cusp of it turning around) some excellent cars. But it's had to cease production of its iconic Defender Land Rover (the company says that to keep it abreast of changes in regulation was not feasible) and it's alienated some of its core - and amazingly loyal - customer base. So, as a luxury car maker which makes some extraordinarily competent vehicles that farmers and soldiers don't want (would you take a power washer to the interior of a Range...
The story of Warderly International Holdings Ltd is strange. Formed in 2002, it floated almost immediately. In 2007, shares were suspended when Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission raised questions about the management of the listed company and, as was learned much later, allegations of insider trading.
A press release from the USA's Inland Revenue Service is headed "Many corporations will pay a blended federal income tax." For heaven's sake: what sounds like something special is nothing of the kind and is an example of buzzword-mania when simplicity would better serve the audience. It's time that government departments stopped trying to sound trendy and just said what they need to say.
On 4th April, Mark Zuckerberg was in full PR mode: he'd posted family photos on Facebook, carefully emphasising that in his house both Jewish and Christian festivals are marked with food but no sign of frivolity and he'd been seen looking suitably tired. He'd brushed off, at least so far as America is concerned, his refusal to appear before a British Parliamentary Committee. And he'd had a bit of the news agenda taken away from his own, and Facebook's bad news stream by the shooting at YouTube. And so, on a conference call with media selected by Facebook's PR people, when he began to present what he calls "Hard Questions: Q&A...
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