South Africa – Financial Treason & Crime

Reuters, 26 May 2021

South Africa’s former leader Jacob Zuma pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering charges relating to a $2 billion arms deal when he was deputy president.

Zuma, who was president between 2009-2018, faces 18 charges relating to the 1999 deal. He has rejected the charges and says he is the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt by a rival faction of the ruling African National Congress.

Zuma, who also faces a separate inquiry into corruption during his time as president, is accused of accepting 500,000 rand ($34,000) annually from French arms company Thales, in exchange for protecting the company from an investigation into the deal. Continue reading “Article: S.Africa’s ex-president Zuma pleads not guilty to corruption charges”

04/26/202104/27/2021

Article: Britain targets 22 people with new anti-corruption sanctions

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Britain targets 22 people with new anti-corruption sanctions

JILL LAWLESS , 26 April 2021

LONDON — Britain imposed asset freezes and travel bans Monday on 22 people accused of bribery, kickbacks and fraud in its first use of new sanctions powers to target corruption around the world.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told lawmakers that the sanctions would prevent the U.K. from being used as “a haven for dirty money.”

The list includes 14 Russians implicated in a $230 million tax fraud and three members of the Gupta business family who are enmeshed in a corruption scandal in South Africa. Britain is also sanctioning businessman Ashraf Seed Ahmed Al-Cardinal, accused of stealing state assets in impoverished South Sudan, and individuals from Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Continue reading “Article: Britain targets 22 people with new anti-corruption sanctions”

04/05/2021

Article: Mirror Trading International Named Biggest Crypto Scam of the Year After Raking in $589 Million – Regulation Bitcoin News

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Mirror Trading International Named Biggest Crypto Scam of the Year After Raking in $589 Million – Regulation Bitcoin News

Mark Viduka, 05 April 2021

Blockchain evaluation agency, Chainalysis’ newest crime report has named Mirror Buying and selling Worldwide (MTI) as the largest cryptocurrency rip-off of 2020. Chainalysis arrived at this conclusion after an investigation discovered that MTI had taken in $589 million from greater than 471,000 deposits. In line with the report, MTI’s haul is considerably greater than that of Forsage and J-enco, the following greatest scams. Each scams raked in lower than $350 million every. Continue reading “Article: Mirror Trading International Named Biggest Crypto Scam of the Year After Raking in $589 Million – Regulation Bitcoin News”

04/03/2021

Article: Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears

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Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears

Ben Bartenstein, 03 April 2021

The market meltdown following Turkey’s central-bank shakeup is reviving a longtime debate among the world’s largest money managers and Ivy League economists over the vulnerability of developing nations.

Doomsayers including Man Group Plc, the world’s biggest publicly listed hedge-fund firm, and the Institute of International Finance’s chief economist Robin Brooks warn that the turmoil battering Turkish securities could ripple across emerging markets in a repeat of the 2013 taper tantrum. Yet that gloomy scenario isn’t the dominant narrative in the hallways of Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and Ashmore Group Plc, which have some of the largest exposures to the nations that might be next in the crosshairs. Continue reading “Article: Man Group Dials Up Short Bets as Turkey Stirs Fragile Five Fears”

12/19/201903/15/2021

Article: South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks

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South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks

David Whitehouse, 19 December 2019

A call from South Africa’s competition regulator to be given extra-territorial powers to prosecute foreign banks whose actions affect South Africans has drawn short shrift from investors.

After an investigation into alleged collusion by 23 banks, ten of which have no presence in South Africa, to co-ordinate on spot dollar and rand prices, the Competition Commission recommended fines totalling 10% of the banks’ global revenues.

The banks involved, which include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, argue that the case should be dropped. The country’s Competition Tribunal in July ruled that the commission had no jurisdiction to impose the fines. Continue reading “Article: South Africa should restrict rand access for offending foreign banks”

04/04/201003/20/2021

Article: Currency wars and the emerging-market countries

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Currency wars and the emerging-market countries

Richard Portes, 04 November 2010

The headlines shout “currency wars”. The US believes China engages in “currency manipulation”. The authorities hesitate to declare this to the US Congress, and the Secretary of the Treasury says “competitive non-appreciation” instead. China accuses the US of excessively loose monetary policy, flooding the world with liquidity. There is some truth in both charges, but some exaggeration.

This is one of the key issues facing the G20. Exchange-rate pressures, global imbalances and rebalancing, spillovers and the desirability of policy coordination – these are at the centre of the economic interdependence between the developed and emerging market countries. All this is in the context of weak US and European recoveries from the Great Recession, the risk of deflation, and the likelihood of more quantitative easing (QE) by major central banks. Domestic issues and inability to get direct action on exchange rates has led the US to propose internationally agreed targets for current-account imbalances. The wheel goes round – these proposals bear some resemblance to those of Keynes at Bretton Woods, which the US then opposed.

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