Please Be Informed...

Head in the Sand - Malaysian companies lose gamble over anti-corruption law

vspace_10px.png

One can understand the logic - the Malaysian government has a tendency to make its laws out of the public eye, then to announce an in-force date and then, when everyone moans they aren't ready, to postpone it. Getting a postponement works for e.g. so-called "e-hailing" drivers. The public likes them and so a few hashtags go a long way. But there is little public sympathy for companies and even less when there is a suggestion that the new law is designed to reduce corruption.

CoNet Section:

Bribery, Corruption and Plunder

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

The relationship between the USA's SEC and DoJ

vspace_10px.png

In a congressional hearing in 1987, US Congressman Norman F Lent of New York put it to the Chairman of the USA's Securities and Exchange Commission, John SR Shad that Rudolph William Louis ("Rudy") Giuliani, then the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, had a better public relations office than the SEC, it appearing that it was his office that had done all the work in the insider dealing case centred around Boesky, Milken, Levine and Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. Shad's explanation of the relationship which holds good today.

BIScom Subsection:

Enforcement

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Face masks - of spam and data points, of suspicion and investigations.

vspace_10px.png

Ngel Morris-Cotterill's blog from www.countermoneylaundering.com

It's been going on for weeks, the deluge of spam about personal protective equipment of one sort of another. But this one is special.

CoNet Section:

Legal Profession

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Fraud is cyclical - the return of search engine fraud

vspace_10px.png

They say, at the end "this is not invoice." But by the time you get that far, you've already been sucked in.

CoNet Section:

IT & Communications

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Heavy gambling spam as UK industry locks down tv advertising

vspace_10px.png

There's a question mark over the sense of allowing tv advertising and - worse - actual gambling on TV. In the UK, it all goes back to Labour's Gordon Brown who decided that the UK's economy would be served by a massive relaxation of the laws on gambling, especially casinos. Suddenly, gambling was cool - after all "Cool Britannia" was Noo Labour's central policy, chummy first names and all.

The end result was an explosion of gambling of many kinds. And that meant competition in an expanding market. Late night, drunk or sexually frustrated TV watchers were offered a choice - soft (sometimes not so soft) porn, often masquerading as documentaries - and games in which telephone customers bet on televised casino games - or phoned a woman who appeared on their screen, her g-string being her...

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

English courts: Statements of truth and foreign language speakers

vspace_10px.png

English barrister Abigail Holt explains important changes in what used to be called "affidavits" and are now termed "statements of truth." The changes appear in a practice direction published 6 April 2020. Holt also looks at some of the practical problems that arise when taking statements from those for whom English is not a first or even second language.

CoNet Section:

Legal Profession

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

OFAC tells AMEX it's been a bit naughty but not to worry too much.

vspace_10px.png

According to a statement issued by the USA's Office of Foreign Assets Control (it's primary financial and economic sanctions department which also investigates and takes action in respect of breaches) says this "Between approximately March 26, 2015 and May 19, 2015, American Express Travel Related Services Company (“Amex”) issued a prepaid card to, and processed 41 transactions totalling $35,246.82 on behalf of, Gerhard Wisser,a Specially Designated National (SDN)."

Publication:

Sanctions In Action

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Fraudsters use fake accounts for well known Instagram users.

vspace_10px.png

This is a fake account. And the creator is a phisherman or other fraudster.

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Pump and Dump: if it smells like musk, it's probably a skunk

vspace_10px.png

As Elon Musk, the increasingly mad genius who's not exactly loved after a court accepted his ridiculous defence in the "pedo man" case and who's the poster-boy for how not to communicate about your company in social media puts his foot so far in his own mouth he could kick a football through his.. oh, never mind. He's done it again and tanked the value of Tesla. In doing so, he's lifted his profile enough for pump and dump artists to be using his interest in the current great scam, Artificial Intelligence, and the con artists who manipulate shares are all over his "Quantum AI."

BIScom Subsection:

Retail Securities

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Data scraping company advertises by spam.

vspace_10px.png

A business using, almost inevitably, an e-mail address at one of the large US based anonymous e-mail services (in this case harry.vangundy@msn.com ) claims to be operating out of Luxumbourg. In fact, the form advertises arguably illegal services and promotes it by wilfully committing unlawful access to websites.

CoNet Section:

IT & Communications

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Rampant Spam shows widening of coronavirus-related frauds

vspace_10px.png

As spam-filters become more alert to spam-scams, many criminals have moved on from selling overpriced, poor quality or non-existent facemasks and the like.

Following the trend set by UK TV advertising where on-line gambling has reached near-epidemic proportions, there is an increased rash of gambling spams. But the most significant trend is to focus on the lifestyle changes faced by millions as they sit at home wondering what to do next.

FCRO Subsection:

Financial Crime News

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

Australia instructs petrol companies to reflect reduction in oil prices.

vspace_10px.png

In a notice issued 22 April, the Australian Consumer and Competition says "Petrol retailers should not use the current pandemic to further increase profits, which the latest ACCC petrol industry report
https://www.accc.gov.au/public... shows have risen in recent years, and should pass on the full benefit of falling oil prices to motorists." The full notice is below. In this teaser we ask this: with dramatically reducing volumes, if the price per litre falls in line with current oil prices (which are lower than those when the oil that is now current petrol stocks were bought), who's paying for the infrastructure and the staff? Prices per litre must cover those costs and that may mean a higher, not lower, price per litre simply to maintain a cashflow neutral business.

CoNet Section:

Politics and Economies

spacer_20_tallx1_wide.png

please_be_informed_front_page_article_separator.png

CoVid-19 - Aegis Business Activity Update

vspace_10px.png

As COVID-19 continues to impact heavily on social and business life across the region we have prepared this weekly summary of what the business situation is like across Asia generally. Our updates, provided by Peter Coleman of AEGIS INTERACTIF ASIA, will look at what business travel and activity is possible and what can be done on the ground in any countries that remain open for domestic business activity.

FCRO Subsection:

Learning

And yes, the typos are in the original notice as is the mysterious absence of the "s" in Criminal Appeals - probably deliberate even though it's nonsense.

CoNet Section:

Legal Profession

Do say this:

Interpretative

Pages

Amazon ads