Pakistan – Financial Treason & Crime

Web Desk, 19 June 2021

KARACHI: The post-clearance audit of Pakistan Customs has unearthed an under-invoicing and trade-based money laundering case of an importer engaged in consignment clearance on fake invoices, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said in a statement issued on Saturday.

It said the Directorate General of Customs Post Clearance Audit had conducted a detailed examination on the case forwarded by the Chief Collector of Customs Appraisement South, Karachi. Continue reading “Article: Pakistan Customs Uncovers Trade-Based Money Laundering”

06/13/202106/14/2021

Article: South Korea Changes Course and Begins Investigating CBDCs

Article - Media

South Korea Changes Course and Begins Investigating CBDCs

John Anlyt, 13 June 2021

The central bank of South Korea (BOK) announced this week the launch of a second specialist team to supposedly develop a digital currency central bank (CBDC) a year after dissolving their first group of researchers.

The entity said it will rededicate itself to studying everything related to the creation and implementation of a CBDC, and the formation of the new research group appears to be a direct response to China’s plans to issue a digital yuan.

The announcement surprised the crypto ecosystem as it signifies a turnaround in South Korea . A little less than a year ago, the BOK stated that there was almost no possibility of a CBDC in the country, which is why the cryptocurrency and digital currency research task force was dissolved .

The beginning of 2020, with China’s firm decision to launch its own CBDC, caused the BOK to change its stance on the issue and claim that it is now ” in the process of investigating ” the possible issuance of its digital currency.

The BOK clarified that its team of researchers will be small, with an initial appointment of eight members specialized in areas as varied as IT, human resources, economics and management.

Popular exchange LocalBitcoins has been suspending user accounts in some countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia without notice . As reported by Forbes these weeks, some users can no longer withdraw their bitcoins from the platform, who only communicated that it is due to a “process of improvements.”

The exchange made no further public comment on the matter. The first complaints began to be noticed last week , when LocalBitcoins users in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Pakistan expressed that they could not withdraw their Bitcoins without deleting their accounts.

Read Full Article

05/12/2021

Article: Uprooting Corruption: Lessons from China

Article - Media, Publications

Uprooting Corruption: Lessons from China

Dr. Ikramul Haq, 12 May 2021

After taking oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan on August 18, 2018, Imran Khan has visited China three times (2018-2020, once every year) during his 33 months in power. After the first visit to Saudi Arabia, which is customary for all new entrants, the Prime Minister showed the importance Pakistan attaches to its most trusted friend, China, by visiting it next.

The much talked about issues in his speeches in China and elsewhere has been his “firm” (but without any roadmap) commitment (verbally) to uprooting corruption and alleviating poverty. On both issues, he vowed to learn from China. Continue reading “Article: Uprooting Corruption: Lessons from China”

01/14/202103/20/2021

Alleged RCMP mole accused of selling secrets to kingpin money launderer and terror-financier’s network

Article - Media, Publications

Alleged RCMP mole accused of selling secrets to kingpin money launderer and terror-financier’s network

Sam Cooper, Global News, 14 January 2021

In October 2014, Canadian intelligence leaders were invited to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s headquarters in Chantilly, Va. The DEA had a theory: the upper echelons of global money laundering, terrorism, drug-trafficking and organized crime all bleed together. And only a handful of men in this murky world of extremely powerful criminals had organizations capable of laundering more than $10 billion annually. Continue reading “Alleged RCMP mole accused of selling secrets to kingpin money launderer and terror-financier’s network”

03/20/201803/20/2021

Article: Britain’s collusion with radical Islam: Interview with Mark Curtis

Article - Media, Publications

Britain’s collusion with radical Islam: Interview with Mark Curtis

Ian Sinclair, 18 March 2018

A former Research Fellow at Chatham House and the ex-Director of the World Development Movement, British historian Mark Curtis has published several books on UK foreign policy, including 2003’s Web of Deceit: Britain’s Real Role in the World, endorsed by Noam Chomsky and John Pilger. Ian Sinclair asked Curtis about the recently published new edition of his 2010 book Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam.

Ian Sinclair: With the so-called ‘war on terror’ the dominant framework for understanding Western foreign policy since 9/11, the central argument of your book – that Britain has been colluding with radical Islam for decades – will be a shock to many people. Can you give some examples?

Mark Curtis: UK governments – Conservative and Labour – have been colluding for decades with two sets of Islamist actors which have strong connections with each other.

In the first group are the major state sponsors of Islamist terrorism, the two most important of which are key British allies with whom London has long-standing strategic partnerships – Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The second group includes extremist private movements and organisations whom Britain has worked alongside and sometimes trained and financed, in order to promote specific foreign policy objectives. The roots of this lie in divide and rule policies under colonialism but collusion of this type took off in Afghanistan in the 1980s, when Britain, along with the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, covertly supported the resistance to defeat the Soviet occupation of the country. After the jihad in Afghanistan, Britain had private dealings of one kind or another with militants in various organisations, including Pakistan’s Harkat ul-Ansar, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), all of which had strong links to Bin Laden’s al-Qaida. Covert actions have been undertaken with these and other forces in Central Asia, North Africa and Eastern Europe.

Read Full Article

08/09/200903/18/2021

Article: UK denies collusion with terror suspect torture

Article - Media, Publications

UK denies collusion with terror suspect torture

David Milliken, 09 August 2009

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said its security services worked to avoid colluding in mistreatment of terrorism suspects held overseas, after a report from lawmakers on Sunday expressed concern about cooperation with foreign intelligence agencies.

Foreign Minister David Miliband and Interior Minister Alan Johnson defended Britain’s intelligence links with countries where detainees are at risk of torture or other abuse in a joint newspaper article.

“All the most serious plots and attacks in the UK in this decade have had significant links abroad. Our agencies must work with their equivalents overseas. So we have to work hard to ensure that we do not collude in torture or mistreatment,” the ministers wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. Continue reading “Article: UK denies collusion with terror suspect torture”