Energyplay,
That is not how it works, it is much less complicated than all that and involves NO wire transfers for SWIFT to trace. And there are WHOLE COUNTRIES that have set up their banking and legal process, even their constitution, to facilitate this activity. And they have created a perfect vehicle for this fraud, believe me. Ever been to Panama? <grin>
When you see politicians on the TV you will doubtless be looking at people who have been engaged in what I am trying to describe and some of them have been doing this for a long time, going back at least to the US 1978 Banking Reform Act. Not all of them of course, but enough of them. And it is not just the pols, agency bureaucrats and many other can play this game.
Ron Paul has repeatedly stated that that the agency bureaucrats and others are becoming increasingly unresponsive and will now openly defy congress and violate the law. You think this is an accident?
Here is how it works and how it is being done. Let us play a game of "pretend":
Pretend that you are an American politician or even a top agency bureaucrat and I am a "Mr. X", an agent, lobbyist or fixer working for some entity that wants you to do something.
I encourage you or your trusted proxy (could be your wife, kid or trusted underling) to meet with me in a particular off-shore banking haven. Lets say we choose Panama City in the Republic of Panama. Maybe you already have a banker there but if not Mr. X will find you one and after your arrival in this tropical paradise you meet in the bankers spacious upper floor office.
Now, if you are really the suspicious type and desire the highest level of security, you have already visited one of the many law firms there that specialize in setting up offshore shell corporations on a sort of "one stop shopping" basis and if you are really the nervous type, what you have done is to have created for you a whole series or daisy-chain of Panamanian shell corporations. This is really not necessary, but many do it and it is not all that expensive, but really a serious overkill, IMHO.
Anyway, "Mr. X" has arranged for the loot to be brought across town, probably in an armoured car from his bank IN CASH and in Panama this will be US dollars. The banker has some girls from the clerical staff to come in, maybe with a counting machine, to get the cash ready for deposit in your account. Lunch is catered. Then, after a while you or your proxy sign some papers and the money is deposited in an account probably belonging to your last shell corporation in the daisy chain. You shake hands with the banker and Mr. X and then go enjoy the rest of your Panama vacation.
What to do with the loot and how to do it safely? Well, the bank no doubt has a brokerage department and you (or your Panamanian shell) could buy stocks. Or you could buy Panamanian real estate, maybe a mansion in one of the many gated communities looking out over the Pacific. To do all this would be totally safe and untraceable.
Now lets say you decide to move some of the loot up to the Bahamas to maybe buy a mansion on Lyford Cay and SWIFT picks up the transfer and the justice department decides to investigate. They have a really big problem in that they have to pursue this matter in Panama, where the money came from and will have to go into a Panamanian court to get any disclosure from the bank.
Here is there problem, you after all, are not Osama Bin Laden, and in the Panamanian court they must have some basis for the disclosure they request. They have no evidence, so about all they can do is to try to claim IRS violations.
Well, Panama has an article in their constitution (how convenient <grin>) that says that a foreign crime can rise in the Panamanian courts no higher than a similar offense is treated under Panamanian law. And in Panama, as tax evasion and similar crimes are MISDEMEANORS, then the request by a foreign authority in Panamanian courts will be treated as a misdemeanor charge.
So, it might take the justice department a year or more to pierce the first layer of your corporate shell, or more likely the courts will simply refuse to act on an alleged misdemeanor at all.
But the entity for which Mr. X works in protected in any case, as there is no record at all, not even a local record of the transfer from across town.
This is really not for the little guys, the "Bob's Construction" and the like. It requires a considerable degree of sophistication and it requires that the source of the bribe money have cash generating operations offshore, hopefully in the country where the bribe is paid.
All the transnationals have such operations in Panama.
Slagle
|
