Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert
Wilkinson, Lloyd Kam Williams
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, Jan. 11–17, 2019
By Rhoda Weeks-Brown
Rhoda Weeks-Brown is
general counsel and director
of the Legal Department
at the International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
WASHINGTON DC, Jan 7
2019 (IPS) - Al Capone had
a problem: he needed a way
to disguise the enormous
amounts of cash generated
by his criminal empire
as legitimate income. His
solution was to buy all-cash
laundromats, mix dirty
money in with clean, and
then claim that washing
ordinary Americans’ shirts
and socks, rather than gambling
and bootlegging, was
the source of his riches.
Almost a century later,
the basic concept of money
laundering is the same,
but its scale and complexity
have grown considerably.
Were Capone alive today,
he would have to run his
washers and dryers around
the clock to keep pace with
demand; the United Nations
recently estimated that the
criminal proceeds laundered
annually amount to
between 2 and 5 percent of
global GDP, or $1.6 to $4
trillion a year.
Money laundering is what
enables criminals to reap
the benefits of their crimes,
including corruption, tax
evasion, theft, drug trafficking,
and migrant smuggling.
Many of these crimes pose a
direct threat to economic
stability. Corruption and
tax evasion make it difficult
for governments to deliver
sustainable and inclusive
growth by diminishing the
resources available for productive
purposes, such as
building roads, schools, and
hospitals. Criminal activity
undermines state authority
and the rule of law while
squeezing out legitimate
economic activity. And
money laundering may create
asset bubbles in markets
like real estate, a common
vehicle.
A recent example illustrates
the point. A Guinean
minister helped a foreign
company obtain important
mining concessions in
exchange for $8.5 million
in bribes. Falsely reporting
that money as income
from consulting work and
private land sales, the minister
transferred it to the
United States and bought a
luxury estate in New York.
But his effort to turn illgotten
gains into a seemingly
legitimate asset was
ultimately unsuccessful;
last year, he was convicted
of money laundering.
In some ways, expensive
homes are the modern
mobster’s collection of laundromats.
A public advisory
issued by US authorities last
year indicated that over 30
percent of high-value, allcash
real estate purchases
in New York City and several
other major metropolitan
areas were conducted
by individuals already suspected
of involvement in
questionable dealings. The
governments of Australia,
Austria, Canada, and other
countries have concluded
that their own real estate
markets could also be used
to invest and launder dirty
money.
More worrying still, dirty
money—along with clean—
may be a source of funding
for terrorism and the
proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction. Terrorist
groups need money, lots
of it, to compensate fighters
and their families; buy
weapons, food, and fuel; and
bribe crooked officials. Similarly,
proliferation does not
come cheap. For example,
North Korea has reportedly
devoted a substantial portion
of its scarce resources
to developing nuclear weapons
.Countries with weak anti–
money laundering and combating
the financing of terrorism
(AML/CFT) regimes
could be called out by the
Financial Action Task Force
(FATF), a global standardsetting
organization. Once
countries come to be viewed
as vulnerable to illicit financial
flows, their banks may
face long-term reputational
damage, costly demands for
additional documentation
on the part of international
business partners, and
the loss of correspondent
banking relationships. This
may marginalize already
fragile economies, threaten
remittance channels and
foreign direct investment,
and drive financial flows
underground. So ignoring
AML/CFT or delaying related
reforms is no longer an
option.
Thankfully, this message
is starting to resonate.
By Christina Ponthieux
My name is Christina Ponthieux.
I am 11 years old. I attend
JFK Magnet Middle School. First
Speaker Pelosi, let me congratulate
you for being voted Speaker
of the House for the second
time! I feel extremely happy for
you. Speaker Pelosi, I came to
talk to you when you came to
Miami to help Congresswoman
Donna Shalala, but I could not
get in because a group of angry
people were making a lot of racket.
I was scared but not too much
because my dad, Rony Ponthieux
was there and my mentor and
second mom: Ms Marleine Bastien.
The Secret Service was nice,
but they closed the doors, and no
one could get in. I was very disappointed,
but I did not cry.
The reason for my letter
is to ask you to help me and
over 275,000 US born children
of Temporary Protected Status
families. Few people talk about
the fact that if a permanent solution
is not found for my parents
who both have TPS, and the
other 300,000 from Haiti, Honduras,
Nicaragua, El Salvador ,
Sudan, and others, the US will
witness the biggest deportation
of US born children like me to
nations in turmoil where our
lives will be in danger. Look at
what is going on now in Haiti. I
heard that there was a massacre
in Haiti recently. Even children
were killed. Do you think that
it’ll be safe for the 27,000 of us
Americans to go back there? My
parents already said they will
not leave me behind. Do you
blame them? Children belong
with their parents, not in cages,
not dead!
As a Family Action Network
Movemenent (FANM) youth
leader and co-chair of C-FAR :
Children For Family Reunification,
I beg you Speaker Pelosi to
help pass a law to help my parents
and the 300,000 others to
stay. My parents are both nurses,
and they are good people just like
the other TPS recipients.
Speaker Pelosi, you are the big
boss now. You can help the U.S
born children of TPS recipients
like me, the DACA youths, and
those being separated from their
moms and dads at the border
where two of them recently died.
It is so sad to come here to be
safe and die. You can do something
about that. I heard that the
TPS is going to court on Monday.
I pray, I pray that we win. I know
that we have to be our part too,
and that’s why I am reaching out
to you.
I believe in you Speaker Pelosi.
You are not scared of President
Trump. You can do it. I will help
the best I can if you call on me.
Again, Congratulations.
Love
Christina
OP-EDS
Money laundering
is what enables
criminals to reap
the benefits of
their crimes,
including
corruption, tax
evasion, theft, drug
trafficking, and
migrant smuggling.
Continued on Page 14
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Stopping criminals from
laundering their trillions
Open letter to
Speaker Pelosi
Christina Ponthieux.
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