Bankruptcy Attorneys

NEW UK schemes help to prevent the capture of health insurance, as a mediator suspended payments, but this is not the end of history.

Trapped means money will not go if the activity mediators have long had resulted in the insurance market in London and one of the important causes of the legal argument. Although insolvency insurance have a lower profile in recent years, they have not weakened. Nobody knows exactly how much is “prisoner” by one hour, but it will certainly to ten million pounds, maybe more.

Two new sets of rules already in a position, because of the second at the beginning of next year, to safeguard the money while facilitating the payment of premiums or claims. The first of AMP Office and with the active support of the Lloyd’s Franchise Board came into effect earlier this year. But the question remains of what this means in practice. The second of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has a good intention, but the law of unintended consequences can have some undesirable side effects.

But before the debate on those two amendments, we will explore the current position. Although what follows is an overview, it should be clear how and why a creditor who wants to unlock captured face means waiting, without necessarily obtaining all funds due to the intermediary insolvent.

The current system is costly and complicated

Trapped funds, funds, which currently stands at coverholders, correspondents, brokers and agents and the premium will probably also, claims and fund insurance or reinsurance transaction.

The question arises frequently in the event of the insolvency of mediator, which is a creditor of intermediaries, and what, if any, to pay or parties involved.

If a company goes bankrupt, it may suddenly. These are payments that are not all-weather and the Bank and other systems can be in the center of the transaction.

It is a point where the funds are usually acquired intermediaries and are subject to bankruptcy, or they are not. It is difficult to say when, but the point is that the appointment of elected officials is a good starting point for the corresponding date.

If funds through intermediaries, the question arises as to what function, the allocation to the intermediary, it was in the house, a responsibility vis-à-vis the company insolvent, or was it easy for the payment?

The liquidator must allow for the identification of business and those who receive assets that intermediaries should bear in themselves and they come to recognize and distribution to creditors of the company.

If an asset, which are held by the company is not really a fortune to the value of the business, it is necessary not to keep the liquidator. Funds in an operating account in accordance with the rules of the insurance broking are usually not operated on a trust basis, there is a debtor-creditor relationship between the broker and the insured, or any other party who may be captured . Each insolvent, stakeholders in a mediator has a different perspective, and the rights and obligations under the contract. The persons concerned are assureds and reassureds score, insurers and reinsurers, manufacture and placement of brokers or other intermediaries in the chain broking; insolvent group, the intermediary company, and the regulatory authority.

The traditional rule is that acts as an agent for the insured, although the differences between the sea and non-marine, when it comes to accountability for the premium liability and money . The provisions on assumptions can be refuted, as well as contributions and damage to the real estate agent may, in fact, has received, on behalf of the insurer or reinsurer.

Receipt of the grant by the broker is not necessarily to obtain the insurance premium. Some parties have therefore deal with intermediaries seeking to strengthen their position in relations with intermediaries through the use of trusts, specific activities, or agency.

AMP reform on relief?

Since the beginning of the year, the Lloyd’s Franchise Board, as well as PGA BRAT Slip-sliding as a norm of the Lloyd’s market. One of the main objectives of the GPA and reform BRAT slip is faster premium payment of the money the insurance company to pay earlier and within the agreed terms. It is expected the rules of the AMP is finally speeding up the claims process.

A power more quickly the money would mean fewer resources to capture the market at any time of Insolvency and duplicate payments would be minimized. Insurers are in a central position, close monitoring of brokers’ payment of their loans and advances to customers, as well as the payment of compensation premium to the contractual deadline

Twenty-year relationship between bank branch president and debtors was not sufficient in itself to establish existence of fiduciary relationship with regard to debt.

Burgess v. BankPlus, 2002 WL 31619066 (Miss., Nov. 21, 2002). As discussed in greater detail infra with regard to defendant-debtors’ counterclaim for fraud, this action arose from a $32,000 loan that defendants Janet Burgess and C.M. Boyles took out with plaintiff BankPlus in May 1998. The defendants’ consumer note was secured by their pledge of three vehicles owned by them as collateral.

After Burgess declared bankruptcy, she voluntarily reaffirmed her debt to BankPlus in the Bankruptcy Court, notwithstanding that this was contrary to the protections she could have received in the bankruptcy proceeding. When Burgess later defaulted on the debt, BankPlus repossessed the collateral, sold the vehicles, and sued for the deficiency that remained–$18,308,81. The defendants counterclaimed for fraud, alleging that the bank had promised to “work with them” to repay the notes.

The bank moved for summary judgment both with regard to its claim as well as the counterclaim, and the trial court granted the motion. On appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court, the judgment was affirmed.

With regard to the defendants’ claim that the bank owed them a fiduciary duty, which was breached, the court noted first that a bank ordinarily does not owe a fiduciary duty to its debtors and obligors under the UCC. An arms-length business transaction involving a normal debtor-creditor relationship does not establish a fiduciary relationship. Moreover, the power to foreclose on a security interest does not, without more, create a fiduciary relationship.

A fiduciary relationship arises only if the activities of both parties go beyond their operating on their own behalf, and the activity is for the benefit of both of them.

In this case, Burgess and Boyles asserted that they had a fiduciary relationship with the bank branch president, because they had known him for more than 20 years. Aside from this fact, however, there was no evidence that the dealings between the parties were other than those of an ordinary creditor and debtor. Further, without some proof that Burgess and Boyles changed their position in reliance on specific assurances made by BankPlus, there was insufficient evidence that the parties’ relationship moved beyond an ordinary creditor-debtor or mortgagor-mortgagee relationship.

The court accordingly held that the parties’ relationship was not a fiduciary relationship as a matter of law, and it affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the bank.

Wronged employer may choose measure of damages for breach of employee’s duty of loyalty employee’s gain from wrongful act or employer’s lost profits.

Gomez v. Bicknell, 2002 WL 31890825 (N.Y.A.D., 2d Dept., Dec. 23, 2002). In February 1995, plaintiff Christian Gomez was hired by defendant Bicknell Advisory Services, Inc. (BAS), a company that provides merger and acquisition advisory services, especially in the information services industry, and whose president and sole shareholder was co-defendant Neff C. Bicknell. Gomez was given a salary, subject to an increase in accordance with an incentive formula.

By separate agreement, Gomez executed a covenant not to compete, which provided that he would not compete with BAS for two years after termination of his employment.

Approximately one year after he went to work for BAS, Gomez requested a more regular working arrangement. At the same time, BAS acquired US Pension Services in a deal that had been pending for several years and that required Bicknell to serve as Chief Executive Officer of the acquired company. In connection with these events, BAS drafted a new working agreement for Gomez, pursuant to which his salary was increased, and he was given a percentage of income “[b]ased on results through calendar year-end,” on the assumption that Bicknell would continue as CEO of U.S. Pension Services. Gomez was to receive one-third of the first $500,000 of income and one-half of any excess.

As any experienced litigator knows, obtaining a large judgment against a defendant is only one step along the path toward actually recovering damages in a lawsuit. If that defendant has had the foresight to engage in timely, effective asset protection planning, then the path to ultimate recovery can be a long and rocky one. Many asset protection strategies involve the use of one or more offshore jurisdictions. Encountering asset protection strategies with offshore components can be particularly frustrating for creditors who have already invested substantial time and money to obtain a judgment. Certain offshore jurisdictions, especially those known as offshore financial centers, lend themselves readily to use in asset protection strategies due to their short statutes of limitations, complex local procedural rules, and refusal to honor foreign judgments.

However, while the use of certain offshore jurisdictions provides judgment debtors with the opportunity to retain their assets (or at least to negotiate more favorable settlements with their creditors), some of the same jurisdictions also provide creditors with powerful offensive tools which may assist them in recovering assets. The tools discussed below were designed to assist creditors in the recovery of assets by curtailing the ability of defendants to transfer their assets prior to the entry of a judgment when the circumstances surrounding the litigation suggest that the defendants are likely to attempt to move their assets outside of their creditors’ reach. A potential defendant’s history of asset protection planning or the existence of certain asset protection vehicles could be enough to warrant the use of these tools in certain offshore jurisdictions.

The Quiet Revolution

Twenty-five years ago, a revolution began in England which eventually altered the legal landscape in much of the world as it pertained to debtor-creditor relationships. No gun was raised, no shot fired; but the face of the common law was changed and the spirit of the revolution continues to spread to this day. The revolution was begun by one man, Lord Denning MR, with the following words:

We are told that an injunction of this kind has never been done before. It has never been the practice of the English Courts to seize assets of a defendant in advance of judgment or to restrain the disposal of them … It seems to me that the time has come when we should revise our practice.1

The type of injunction imposed by Lord Denning is now commonly known as the Mareva injunction. The Mareva injunction and its progeny, including the creditor’s tactical nuclear weapon - the Anton Piller order, allow creditors to obtain disclosures of information and to seize assets in ways never before possible in common law jurisdictions.

The revolution spread widely, but its expansion did not sap its strength. In Australia, the Mareva injunction was applied for the first time on a world-wide scale. Closer to home, American courts have experimented with similar types of relief with mixed results. But what are the new weapons offered to creditors by this revolution and where did they come from?

Stated simply, Mareva injunctions permit courts in certain circumstances to take appropriate steps to ensure that judgments are not rendered valueless or meaningless through a debtor’s pre-judgment dissipation or concealment of assets. Such injunction typically freeze a debtor’s assets before the entry of a judgment and, in extreme cases, prior to the commencement of a case. Similarly, courts impose Anton Piller orders when there is a substantial likelihood that the legal process may be subverted through the wilful destruction of evidence. Such orders allow law enforcement officials acting on a creditor’s behalf to use force and surprise to gain access to documents or other evidence which a court has been convinced (on an ex parte, i.e., no-notice, basis) may otherwise be destroyed.

A Brief History of Mareva Injunctions and Anton Piller Orders

The Mareva injunction was introduced in the 1975 case of Nippon Yusen Kaisha v. Karageorgis.2 The facts of that case were straightforward. The Greek charterers for the hire of a ship owed lease payments to a Japanese shipowner, the plaintiff NYK. The whereabouts of the Greeks was unknown; their offices in Piraeus were closed. They did, however, have funds on deposit in a London bank. NYK reasonably feared that the funds would disappear before judgment. When the High Court trial judge refused to act on an ex parte injunction application, NYK sought immediate review on an ex parte basis from the Court of Appeal, which granted an injunction to stop any transfer of the funds. The bank holding the funds was notified, the funds were frozen, and ultimately the shipowners were paid.

A few weeks later, a similar emergency arose with respect to an Italian ship, the Mareva. The Court of Appeal again acted to freeze the London bank account of the charterer. Mareva Compania Naviera SA v. International Bulkcarriers SA.3 This second prejudgment seizure case gave a convenient name to the new common law remedy against what Lord Chief Justice Denning has described as “shifty customers and delaying or defaulting debtors.”

LEAD: Eduardo Martinez Romero, captured in Colombia, was alerted by a washing enormous sums earned illegally in the United States from the sale of cocaine from South America.

Eduardo Martinez Romero, captured in Colombia, was alerted by a washing enormous sums earned illegally in the United States from the sale of cocaine from South America.

Defendant in the year by a federal grand jury in Atlanta, Mr. Martinez repression of the American authorities of sub-lieutenant, acted as chief financial adviser and for the executives of the drug cartel in Medellin, Colombia, to the establishment of a US “La Mina , or at the mine.

If Mr. Martinez is extradited, prosecutors of the state, it is a snapshot of the legal proceedings in Atlanta.

The indictment, “said Martinez and La Mina could heranschleichen profits from the drug in the country through the use of almost immediate wire transfers between bank accounts in the United States and abroad.

Mr. Martinez Panama two officials of a bank, a Colombian subsidiary of the bank for their support during the operation of money laundering, the indictment said. Meeting with the Undercover Agent

Other documents in court, he said more than a dozen meetings and discussions with Aruba, Panama and Medellin, Colombia, with people that he and the head of the cartel have also prompted money launderers. But they were actually Undercover agents in the Atlanta office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Officials said Martinez, who, without knowing it, the details of complex money laundering and inside the workings of the cartel.

The Bogota daily El Tiempo quoted Mr. Martinez, a 35-year-old economist, and the citizens of Colombia, like any misconduct was arrested after the weekend.

”At no time I had links with the Medellin cartel, and I do not know, one of its members,”the newspaper quoted the words with him. The agreement is a loose confederation of drug traffickers in Colombia, where he was responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine, the United States.

According to the charges against him in Atlanta, Mr. Martinez used fictitious wholesale gold jewellery and gold bars of the company to conceal income for cocaine.

Jewellers fake gold ingots and distributors in more than $ 1.2 billion in cash and suppliers of cocaine on the road corner of the house and crack in New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Los Angeles. Heavy volumes of cash benefits

Armored trucks were hired to transport the flow of thousands of young people in boxes and filing cabinets in Los Angeles, where other companies false deposited in banks in California. Wholesale trade and gold jewellery dealers generally the gold from heavy industry to high volume of cash, and it has been used to La Mina, the first without arousing suspicion.

In California, Mr. Martinez is accused orchestrating complex, a number of wire transfers between banks and in New York, Canada, Latin America and Europe. The Juweliere””ist he, with banks, often said, they were transferred, silver to gold gold in other places, but in fact lead to bars die”Gold ‘ ‘war painted with gold.

LEAD: The Federal Banking Commission said in a report today that it is intended to reinforce the fight against money laundering.

The Federal Banking Commission said in a report today that it is intended to reinforce the fight against money laundering.

He also criticized Switzerland, the third largest bank, Credit Suisse, for the support of two Lebanese changers of money in the bank first thought was just a case of capital flight. The authorities now believe that the two were at the centre of the largest money-laundering ever discovered here.

This decision is the first formal step by the Swiss authorities on the freedom of action of the banks, given that the scandal of money laundering in Switzerland, started a few months ago.

The scandal forced the resignation of the Minister of Justice of Switzerland, Elisabeth Kopp, and dismissal of the Attorney General, Rudolf Gerber.

The authorities say, $ 1.3 billion of criminal money - at least some of them in the drug trade - was gereinigt””von Swiss banks between 1985 and 1988.

The 37-page report was the result of an investigation into the banks “in the case of the role. The study was conducted by Daniel Zuberbuehler, an official of the Swiss Federal Banking Commission. In an interview by telephone, said Zuberbuehler, the Commission would quickly with the Swiss Bankers Association to write new rules for banks to make greater efforts to discover the origin of resources - including Cash - they accept.

”We urge the banks leads to move closer to their bank to comply and departments to monitor senior management in the hierarchy of banks,”he said.

He said that this could be the analysis of transactions, to see whether the large amounts of money came from high-risk countries in transit at the origin of money or criminal penalties.

The report criticises the bank Credit Suisse, thought to have washed most of the 1.3 billion dollars, but the surveillance department stores, in the hands of relatively low level officials.

The report also indicates that the Credit Suisse, Switzerland in collaboration with the other two major banks, the European Union and Switzerland, Swiss Bank Corporation, wrote to the Swiss embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Istanbul, Turkey, Damascus, Syria, and in Sofia, Bulgaria, demand a swift and positive applications for visas to certain persons, which account for banks to clients.

These people turned out later, messengers, which carries Dollar Deutsche Mark and the two Lebanese money changers. The two brothers, by the name of the Barkev and Jean Magharian, were arrested during the summer in Switzerland and are in preventive detention.

The ratio of debt is not at Credit Suisse, or any other bank knowingly participating in money laundering.

But the report says that the year 1986, it became apparent to the bank that the brothers who with its headquarters in Switzerland, has been perhaps the money helps the export of certain persons from countries with rules against the flight of capital.

Credit Suisse is an internal report warned the Situation’’stark could tarnish the reputation of the bank,”by the commission. But a gap in the “gentleman’s agreement” does not oblige banks to avoid, which is headquartered in Switzerland, the promotion of capital flight. For example, Credit Suisse officials closed accounts Magharians advised them to a new company from outside Switzerland, then immediately yet their accounts with their activities continue after the Federal Banking Commission the Commission’s report.

LEAD: A senior U.S. Treasury said today that the best way for banks oasis with more stringent laws part of the secret of the fight against the laundering of drug money has been provided through cooperation and not confrontation.

A senior U.S. Treasury said today that the best way for banks oasis with more stringent laws part of the secret of the fight against the laundering of drug money has been provided through cooperation and not the confrontation.

He spoke of a news briefing on the condition that his name not be disclosed, the Ministry of Finance as senior officials of most industrialized Nations gathered here for money laundering. An estimated $ 300 billion in laundered money in the drug trade is held each year.

The American officials, it has already pressure on the banks of oases like Liechtenstein, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Panama, Uruguay and Hong Kong -”do not want to finish, washing ways of the world illegal.”

The official added that it would be a mistake to spread on specific cases, banks havens of “zero tolerance”. ”I do not think our goal is to keep someone on the outside, in the display to the public pillory,”he said. “This Is Not A Study Group”

French and American officials said that the objectives of this meeting was the harmonization of the definition of money laundering, to coordinate efforts, share information and assess what already exists for combating laundering money.

In addition, the objectives of the group, to prepare a report, which define how international cooperation in the fight against laundering drug money. ”This is not study,’’said Finance Minister Pierre Beregowoi of France. ”This group of experts will develop and take action.”

In July this year, the Group of Seven summit in Paris, the leaders of the industrialized nations agreed on a Money Laundering Task Force. The group, which met for the first time today, and also representatives of other nations also plans for the submission of a report to the state and government leaders of the Group of Seven countries - the United States, US, Japan, UK, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Canada and Italy - next April.

The American Senior Treasury official said today that Sitzung”ist an explicit recognition of the fact that in order to cope with the drug problem you have in the world financial and economic system, part of the process.” He added that De momentum for other purposes strong action on money laundering was a step by President Bush in the fight against drugs.

LEAD: Canada is quickly becoming a major haven for laundering illegal drug profits from the United States, law-enforcement authorities from both countries say.

Canada is quickly becoming a major haven for laundering illegal drug profits from the United States, law-enforcement authorities from both countries say.

A confidential report made public today said hundreds of millions of dollars are moving annually to Canadian banks from the United States to avoid American banking laws intended to curb money laundering.

The report, prepared by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, added that seizures by border authorities of large amounts of cash are increasing at a rapid pace. Falling Trade Barriers

Bush Administration officials predict that laundering activities will further increase in Canada as trade barriers are phased out between the two countries under a sweeping free-trade agreement that began to go into effect this year. Canada and the United States already have the largest two-nation trade relationship, and the Administration officials added that the expansion of commerce between the two that is encouraged by the new agreement is expected to provide a useful mask to conceal more drug-money transactions.

The report said that cash carried across the border and electronic transfers between American and Canadian banks are the most common ways the money is being moved.

”Canada does not fit the profile of the typical financial haven nation, yet it has been a repository for drug monies in recent years as a result of certain anomalies in Canadian law,” the report said, noting that the country’s statutes have no requirements for reporting money that enters or leaves the country. ”Canada’s stable political climate, reasonably strong currency and well-developed banking system make it an attractive repository or transshipment point for the movement of drug profits from U.S. drug organizations.”

It added that the risk of detection is not high because of the enormous movement of cars across the generally open 5,500-mile border. Fears of Publicizing Report

The report, which officials of the drug agency said they had hoped to keep confidential out of fears that publicity would further encourage drug traffickers to use Canadian banks, came to light at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics and international operations. John F. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the committee, obtained a copy of the report and cited it as depicting ”a friendly country whose bankers are thumbing their noses at our banking laws.”

In Toronto and Montreal, officials at the Canadian Bankers Association, a lobbying and trade organization that represents the nation’s largest banks, declined to comment on the report or on Mr. Kerry’s remarks. Members of the Senate subcommittee staff said representatives of Canadian banks had declined invitations to appear at the hearing. No specific Canadian banks were identified in the report as being intentionally involved in laundering drug profits.

Unlike in the United States, the Canadian banking industry is heavily concentrated around about a half-dozen leading banks. The report indicated that both large and small banks are being increasingly used.

Russian prosecutors have opened the first criminal investigation into a Moscow bank since the Government was rocked by accusations of money laundering through the Bank of New York.

The director of the prosecutor’s investigative unit, Vladimir Minayev, said Russian authorities had uncovered evidence of suspicious deals carried out by the Flamingo Bank, a small bank based in Moscow.

Mr. Minayev declined to say whether Russian officials had uncovered information that Flamingo had channeled money through suspicious accounts at the Bank of New York. He said the investigation was continuing.

Russian executives say Flamingo was one of several Russian banks suspected of funneling under-the table payments from Russian importers through foreign banks.

The practice is a widespread means of avoiding taxes and tariffs. And some Russian businessman have said it may account for some of the money that passed through accounts at the Bank of New York that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining. Some $7.5 billion passed through their accounts over the last three years.

Executives at Flamingo Bank did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The bank received a license in October 1994, according to the Central Bank. It has a license to deal in foreign currency, as well as rubles. But its official assets are so small that it has escaped attention by some Western bank-rating agencies.

More : query.nytimes.com

Financial officials from Arab countries worked behind closed doors here on Thursday to create the first regional organization in the Middle East and North Africa to fight money laundering, delegates to a meeting on terrorist and criminal finance said.

The organization could be a vital tool to pursue terrorist money that flows outside traditional banking channels through an ancient system known as hawala, which is also important in sending money from workers scattered around the globe to relatives in Muslim countries.

Five regional organizations already work under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force, which was created in 1989 to investigate money laundering by drug cartels and organized crime and, since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has also tracked terrorist finance.

The task force sets standards, like urging countries to adopt laws that make money laundering a crime and that authorize the extradition of suspects. It also publishes lists of countries whose financial regulatory systems it deems helpful to money laundering. The current list has 7 countries on it, down from a peak of 21.

Creating the new organization has been the focus of talks here this week by delegates from the 31 countries and two organizations that make up the task force, said Patrick Moulette, the task force’s executive secretary.

An announcement is expected Friday. The new organization could become part of task force operations as early as October, delegates said.

Officials declined to say which nations were involved. Calls to the Washington and Paris embassies of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt were not returned. Iran was not represented here, officials confirmed.

The new regional organization could be crucial to identifying terrorist plots financed with money transferred across borders without any written record. In a hawala transaction, a client deposits funds with a hawala agent in one country and is given a code, usually a number. When the code is delivered to another hawala agent in another country, the money is turned over, minus a commission.

More : query.nytimes.com

LEAD: In moving against a large money-laundering operation Wednesday, the Justice Department began using a new Federal law meant to help the Government seize the proceeds of illegal drug sales.

In moving against a large money-laundering operation Wednesday, the Justice Department began using a new Federal law meant to help the Government seize the proceeds of illegal drug sales.

The law, enacted last year, permits the Government to claim ownership of all cash funneled through operations intended to disguise the source of ill-gotten money. Investigators previously relied on a 1986 law that allowed them to seize only the profits of the laundering operation, typically amounting to just 6 or 7 percent of the money being ”washed.”

The significance of the new law was dramatically illustrated Wednesday when the Justice Department filed a civil suit in Federal District Court in Manhattan, seeking $433.5 million in laundered money that moved through the accounts of nine American banks and foreign banks with American branches.

Among the nine banks are the Bank of New York, Republic National Bank, Citibank, American Express Bank Ltd. and BankAmerica International. In some cases, the lawsuit claims, the laundered money was transferred to offshore branches of major American banks, Justice Department officials said today.

It also includes the Bank of Credit and Commerce, a New York agency of Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The international bank is a Luxembourg-based institution indicted last year in Florida in the breakup of a major international drug-money laundering scheme. Extension of Authority

”This is the first time that the courts have extended our authority to reach into foreign countries to tell someone to return assets” from a money-laundering operation, the head of the Justice Department’s narcotics section, Charles Saphos, said today. ”This suit tells them to freeze the money, to bring it back to the U.S., and to let us adjudicate to determine who owns it.”

More : query.nytimes.com

LEAD: A Panamanian bank has agreed to plead guilty to laundering drug money, in a case that discloses the complicated new electronic technology now used to transfer illegal profits from cocaine sales in the United States.

A Panamanian bank has agreed to plead guilty to laundering drug money, in a case that discloses the complicated new electronic technology now used to transfer illegal profits from cocaine sales in the United States.

The plea is to be entered on Monday in Federal court in Atlanta by lawyers for the Panamanian subsidiary of Banco de Occidente, court documents say. It will be the largest money-laundering conviction ever obtained by the Federal Government against any bank.

It will also be the first time a foreign bank with no operations in the United States has been convicted on charges of disguising illegally earned cash.

Details of the plea agreement are to be announced on Monday by the Justice Department. The bank’s cooperation with the Federal authorities provides a rich source of information about the role played by American banks in money laundering.

Justice Department officials in Washington said the complex laundering operation began with drug dealers in New York, Miami, Houston and Los Angeles who took in hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from cocaine sales and then carted them off to bogus jewelry businesses that acted as fronts. Hundreds of Briefcases

The cash, often in hundreds of briefcases and cartons, each containing from $100,000 to nearly $2 million, would then be sent by armored truck to other phony jewelry operations in Los Angeles, where they were counted in high-speed machines.

More : query.nytimes.com

Donald Regan unfairly implies that banks are not taking an active role in combating money laundering (”The Color of Money Can Stop Drugs,” Op-Ed, Sept. 18). Experts familiar with recent developments know that banks are playing a major role in this battle, both in the United States and abroad.

Mr. Regan says that ”if our Government is going all out to fight a war over drugs, bankers should be the first to join in.” The American Bankers Association agrees; it started addressing these issues more than four years ago.

Mr. Regan proposes a White House meeting of enforcement officials, financial industry regulators and bankers ”to establish ground rules on how to proceed.” Last March, in an open letter to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, A.B.A.’s Money Laundering Task Force called for the creation of just such a group. Last month Senator John Kerry introduced legislation that would establish an Anti-Money-Laundering Advisory Commission, and President Bush recently incorporated this recommendation in his national drug program.

A special United Nations task force met for the first time this week in Paris to assess the problem of money laundering and to discuss means of enhancing international cooperation in providing access to bank records and seizing drug assets. The A.B.A. is also meeting with representatives of several European banking organizations to discuss the issue.

America’s commercial banks have a strong record of support for compliance with Federal statutes like the Bank Secrecy Act and the Money Laundering Control Act. They also make every effort to know their customers. In 1988 financial institutions filed approximately six million cash reports and reported hundreds of suspicious transactions, despite the difficulty in distinguishing these transactions from legitimate ones.

More : query.nytimes.com

A technical committee to scrutinise Kenya’s debt register, and report to the public on how the current and previous regimes have used donor money, will be in place soon.

A number of reputed organisations - including Oxfam and Institute of Economic Affairs - have been identified as members of the committee that will provide technical expertise.

This follows the handing over last week to Kenya National Human Rights Commission chairman Maina Kiai of 85,000 postcards, signed by Kenyans, asking the Government to push for cancellation of more than 425 billion foreign debts. The cards were presented to Mr Kiai by religious organisations and NGOs - operating as the Catholic Economic Justice (CEJ) Network.

“The debt register has a lot of technical data. Experts are required to scrutinise it to determine how funds were used,” says Mr Magnus Bruening,. He is the manager of research, advocacy and information technology at Kenya Episcopal Conference, Catholic Secretariat.

If this is successful, Kenyans will, for the first time, know how much was funded for projects in their areas, and whether they benefited.

A local organisation will also come up with monitoring mechanisms to track agreements the Government is entering into, the funds signed for, and their intended use. Results of the monitoring will be made public regularly.

Prosecute people

Arrangements are also being made to meet Germany (the current president of the council of European Union and the Group of 8 rich countries) on debt issues. “We are lobbying foreign ambassadors in Kenya to start negotiations with the Government on debt cancellation,” says Mr Bruening.

Debt campaigners also want the support of Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate and prosecute people indicated in the debt register as beneficiaries of money loaned to the country. A debt register details the amount the Government has received, from whom and for what purpose. Areas to benefit from the money are also listed.

International NGOs in other parts of the world have successfully scrutinised the debt register of the countries they operate in on these scores. For a long time, Kenya’s debt register has been a guarded secret, although it is a public document. Only recently did the Catholic Economic Justice Network use tact, determination and connections to access it.

But the information they got from the Ministry of Finance goes up to 2002, dwelling only on donor money received during former President Moi’s regime.

Intense, behind-the-scenes efforts are being made to make the Narc Government issue an updated debt register, showing how much has been received since it came to power in 2003.

Mr Kiai, who received the anti-debt cards last week at a ceremony at Uhuru Park’s Freedom Corner, is expected to hand them to Finance minister Amos Kimunya, in whose docket the register lies, and House Speaker Francis Kaparo. Mr Kiai is also expected to help put pressure on the Government to provide an updated register.

Member states of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made pledges totaling more than US$842m, to provide debt relief for Liberia.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn Monday announced in Washington, DC, that the International Monetary Fund secured these financing pledges from member countries as a deal to allow the Fund provide debt relief to Liberia.

A release from the Liberia embassy in Washington, DC, quoted IMF Managing Director as saying that when these pledges are formalized, a process will be followed to clear the arrears for Liberia to qualify for new Fund financing that will enable the delivery of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and other debt relief to the country.

This is one of the first concrete achievements for the new IMF director, who took over his post on November 1.

The IMF boss noted that by clearing Liberia’s books of arrears accrued over the war years, the deal will allow the struggling country to gain access to loans and other assistance from the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The Embassy further quotes Mr. Strauss-Kahn as highly praising the financing breakthrough, noting, “Today’s milestone is a critical step in moving Liberia onto a path toward comprehensive debt relief. We will continue to support the post-conflict recovery, building on Liberia’s many achievements over the past two years”.

According to him, “despite difficult conditions, Liberia has established an encouraging track record of macroeconomic management and reforms.”

The Managing Director offered his thanks to the IMF member countries for their generous support, adding, “I would like to record my appreciation for the leadership of President Johnson-Sirleaf and her economic team.

I also wish to acknowledge the efforts of many leaders around the world in this cooperative effort, including the low income countries, as well as for the personal support of Bob Zoellick at the World Bank.”

Nigeria may qualify for debt relief if the Jubilee Act, a new United States (U.S.) Congress legislation is passed into law.

The Jubilee Act for Expanded Debt Cancellation and Responsible Lending, introduced by Senators Robert Casey, Richard Lugar, Chris Dodd and co-sponsored by Senators Barack Obama, Joseph Biden and John Sununu will authorise expanded debt cancellation in order to help developing countries fight poverty. It will also ban harmful economic policies and conditionalities that keep lenders perpetually in debt to creditors including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Two years ago, Nigeria paid $12.2 billion to exit the Paris Club, with $18 billion written off. Early this year, Nigeria exited London Club with the payment of $2.08 billion.

Nigeria currently owes about $3.5 billion to multilateral institutions.

Currently, Nigeria is not qualified for debt cancellation under the World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) programme. Other countries in this category are Angola, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Djibouti, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Republic of Yemen and Zimbabwe

But the new bill, already under consideration in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, will give Nigeria and the other countries in the same category a chance to improve their human rights records and financial management practices, thereby qualifying them for outright debt cancellation.

“One of the requirements is that countries have to have suitable, transparent public financial management policies in order to be able to qualify. We think Nigeria could eventually qualify for that cancellation but probably won’t be eligible right away,” said the National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, Neil Watkins, whose organisation has been pushing for the debt cancellation legislation.

“Basically, what the legislation says is that if a country is eligible for International Development Association (IDA)-only assistance, they have to make sure they have good human rights practices. They also have to prove they will be able to use the debt relief well.

They have to have budget transparency and good public financial management practices,” he affirmed.

The Bill was introduced in the Senate on October 16 and in the House on June 7th - House Bill HR2634.

Explaining why Jubilee USA Network has been pursuing the legislation, Watkins stated that debt relief is an important tool in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MGGs). He observed that there needs to be trade justice and more aid to countries struggling economically.

He expressed concern that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt relief programmes do not cover all countries that need it in order to fight poverty and achieve the MDGs.

The organisation has therefore been encouraging members of Congress to see the benefits of a legislation to expand debt relief for more countries.

He however stated that it is absolutely up to each country to apply for debt relief when they do qualify. He also pointed out that although Nigeria may have reached an agreement with private creditors, it continues to carry the burden of servicing its multilateral debt.

Liberia’s Finance Minister Antoinette Sayeh said on Monday that it was time for “guarded optimism” when she described how close, but yet far, Liberia was toward debt relief.

The Finance Minister spoke cautiously optimistic following her return from the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, where she participated in meetings on the process leading to a possible waiver of Liberia’s external debts.

Liberia’s external debt is estimated as high as 4.7 billion United States dollars.

And for the last 18 months, there have been moves to off set Liberia’s debt burden including an IMF staff monitor program under which the Liberian government has been effecting reforms, especially with the downsizing of civil servants and by attempting to adhere to fiscal discipline.

The Finance Minister told a news conference Monday that implementing a poverty reduction strategy for a full year and a satisfactory performance under a new IMF program were the two critical elements ahead of debt relief.

However, Sayeh said, “Liberia is very close to clearing its arrears to the IMF, World Bank, and Africa Development Bank; we are also potentially close to reaching the ‘decision point’ of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.”

Sayeh said at the decision point, Liberia debt service payments will begin to be forgiven, but that the debt stock will remain.

She acknowledged that there were too many hurdles to reaching the HIPC decision point including a funding deficit at the IMF of an estimated 28 million United States dollars and a deficit at the African Development Bank of an estimated 35 million United States dollars.

“In other words, the money is fully not yet available to pay for our arrears to and debt relief from the IMF”, Sayeh sounded cautiously, but added that, “We are currently working with the help of our international friends to attempt to close these gaps, a process that we hope will be completed quite soon.”

The Finance Minister also pointed out that the Liberian government was yet to finalize a negotiated arrears clearance document with the World Bank which would allow the Bank to clear Liberia’s arrears with an exceptional grant of about 501 million United States dollars.

A dispatch from Washington D.C. on Friday said the managing director of the international monetary fund (IMF), Rodrigo de Rato has called on the international community for an urgent progress in moving Liberia onto the path toward debt relief.

de Rato was quoted as saying that, “this effort hinges on securing the resources needed to finance the cost of IMF’s debt relief to Liberia, which in turn could facilitate an arrears clearance operation for Liberia.”

de Rato made the call following a meeting with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who was on an official visit to America.

The IMF boss disclosed that IMF Executive Board recently approved the modalities of a financing package to facilitate mobilizing the resources needed to provide debt relief to Liberia.

“In this context, I am encouraged by the pledged support from a number of bilateral donors and look forward to additional commitments from a wide group of contributors to ensure that sufficient resources will be in place expeditiously for the Fund’s debt relief to Liberia,” de Rato stated.

He said during his meeting with Johnson-Sirleaf, their discussions focused on the ambitious reform program the Liberian government is pursuing under a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP).

The IMF managing director acknowledged that despite difficult post-conflict circumstances, the government has established an encouraging track record of policy implementation under their SMP.

He said “achievements under the SMP have supported a continued recovery in real GDP growth, relative price and exchange rate stability, and a significant improvement in public financial management and the financial position of the Central Bank of Liberia; looking ahead, to sustain the reform efforts, the authorities will need to continue to display strong ownership of the program, including by working closely with the Liberian legislature.”

Rev. David Duncombe, a United Church of Christ minister from Washington State , broke his 40 day fast during a prayer breakfast on Capitol Hill this morning, ending his nearly six week lobbying ministry for the Jubilee Act for Expanded Debt Cancellation and Responsible Lending. Rev. Duncombe was joined by Representatives Spencer Bachus (R-AL), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO), each of whom broke their own one-day fasts for the legislation. The introduction of a new Senate companion bill sponsored by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) was also announced. Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE) and John Sununu (R-NH) are original co-sponsors of the legislation.

Rev. Duncombe had been leading the nationwide “Cancel Debt Fast,” organized by Jubilee USA Network, and was supported by some 14,000 Americans who also fasted and contacted their Members of Congress. The Fast resulted in a commitment to a fall hearing on the Jubilee Act (H.R. 2634) in the House Financial Services Committee, 20 additional House bill sponsors, and the introduction of a Senate companion bill.

“We welcome and fully support the legislation introduced today in the Senate, which would expand the promise of debt cancellation to more countries that need it to fight poverty,” said Neil Watkins, National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of 80 faith-based, human rights, and development groups. “The bill also gets at some of the problems with the current World Bank and IMF debt relief initiative by cutting out economic policy conditions which hurt the poor and by taking action against unscrupulous vulture funds.”

The House and Senate versions of the Jubilee Act would:

* Cancel the debts of up to 26 additional nations not currently eligible for debt cancellation, provided that they demonstrate plans to spend the money wisely on poverty reduction;

* Cut harmful requirements that are delaying access to life-saving debt relief for countries like Haiti and Liberia ;

* Call on the Treasury Secretary to address the challenges presented by so-called vulture funds, one of which recently extracted $15 million from impoverished Zambia ; and

* Establish policies for responsible lending to avoid odious and unjust debt accumulation in the future, beginning with an audit of past odious debts by the Government Accountability Office.

During his 40 day ministry, Rev. Duncombe made 200 visits to Senators’ and Representatives’ Hill offices. “Most people who work on Capitol Hill never meet a starving person,” said Duncombe. “I don’t think risking your life is a bad thing if there’s a good chance you can save someone else’s.”

Other speakers at the morning event included: Dr. Stephen M. Colecchi, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Dr. Ulrich Duchrow, German Theologian; Ruth Messinger, President, American Jewish World Service; Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson, North American President, World Council of Churches; Jim McDonald, Vice President, Bread for the World; Ombeni Sefue, Tanzanian Ambassador the United States; Rt. Rev. Jean Zache Duracin, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti; Given Lubinda, Zambian MP; Hilary O. Shelton, NAACP Washington office; and Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun.

During the 40 day fast, Jubilee activists in 33 states wrote messages to their Senators and Representatives on 8,000 empty paper plates calling for an end to hunger and poverty; some plates were delivered by Rev. Duncombe, others have been or will be delivered directly by constituents. More than 8,000 nuns from 150 different provinces also fasted for one or more days.

Debt relief provided to date by world leaders is an effective tool to fight hunger and poverty, but should be expanded, says Jubilee USA. Developing countries already relieved of debt have increased their own domestic spending on poverty reduction by 75 percent. For example, after Zambia ’s debts were canceled, the country’s education spending increased by 130 percent, enabling approximately 1.5 million children to return to school almost overnight.

Under the global compact between the rich and poor nations that was articulated in 8 millenium development goals (MDGs), about N99.9 billion has been spent in 2006 for the development of physical infrastructure.

Benefiting federal ministries secured in health N21.288 billion, education N18.22 billion, water resources N19.215 billion, power and steel N16.961 billion, works N9.855 billion and agriculture N9.400 billion. Others are, environment N1.485 billion, women affairs N1 billion, inter governmental affairs N990 million, housing and urban N495 million and the monitoring and evaluation gulped N1 billion.

In a compiled official documents of the millenium development goals MDGs operations and achievements made avaiable to LEADERSHIP by the head of communication Fatima Akilu, the debt relief funds had been used to reduce poverty.

The Government of Italy has pledged its support to Liberia’s fight for debt relief as the country continues its drive towards national recovery.

The pledge was made today in Rome when President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf officially met with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Prodi asked the President to send a delegation to follow up on talks with the view of having an exploratory means of bilateral co cooperation. He also pledged to send a delegation to Liberia after this initial step is taken. The Italian Prime Minster also committed his government’s desire to assist the A.M. Dogliotti Medical School.

For her part, President Johnson-Sirleaf solicited Italy’s support and went to arm’s length to talk about the considerable progress made so far by her government in tackling Liberia’s debt issue amidst the constraints faced by the country.

Earlier, President Johnson-Sirleaf met with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Italy is governed by the parliamentary system of government which is characterized by a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government.

Also present at the meetings were Margibi County Senator Clarice A. Jah, Nimba County Representative Evans Koah and Liberia’s Ambassador to France His Excellency McKinley Thomas.

In a related development, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says a positive wind of change is blowing across the African continent, but adds that the good news which is gradually developing; do not get the attention it needs.

The President spoke today in Turin, Italy, when she addressed the United Nations Turin Retreat 2007. The retreat, which will run from August 31-September 2nd 2007, was convened by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to enable his senior most managers know each other better, exchange ideas, and reflect on the experiences to date and the challenges ahead of the Organization.

The Liberian leader chronicled the growing trends in democracies in Africa, saying that today the continent has 18 democracies and that 21countries have qualified for the first stage of debt relief. She also added that significant gains have been made in reducing the level of poverty in spite of difficulties. Speaking on Liberia’s current geo-political status, President Johnson-Sirleaf stressed that the 2005 elections marked a turning point in country’s history. She emphasized that her government will have to build Liberia’s human resource and capacity as well as ensure that the benefit of growth be equitably distributed for development to be sustained.