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To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (44353)	10/30/1999 9:39:00 AM
From: IngotWeTrust	Respond to of 116761

PAR EXCELLENCE! BRAVO BRAVO! Great Re-Write!!! Shld rename U MATADOR!!!!

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (44353)	10/30/1999 2:11:00 PM
From: Tom Byron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116761

but didn't "we" win the cold war. do not to the "victors" go the spoils.. wasn't it that way back in the good old "roman days"...and been that way ever since...what's new, i ask??....('^J) ....(tongue in cheek)

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (44353)	10/30/1999 4:36:00 PM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116761

Nauru nets billions in funny money By DAVID HILZENRATH in Washington The tiny Pacific island of Nauru has enjoyed extraordinary wealth over the past few decades exploiting a precious natural resource - fossilised bird droppings. But these phosphate deposits are nearly depleted, and strip mining has turned most of the island's 15 square kilometres into an arid, pitted desolation. Now Nauru is cultivating a new source of income, reinventing itself as an offshore banking centre and selling foreigners the means to cloak transactions. Over the past two years, tens of billions of dollars appear to have flowed from Russia's troubled economy through banks and other companies registered in Nauru, Russian and United States government officials say. Last year, $US70 billion ($107 billion) was transferred from Russian banks to accounts of banks chartered in Nauru, primarily to evade taxes, Mr Victor Melnikov, deputy chairman of the Russian central bank, said in an interview on Wednesday. With a population estimated last year at 10,850, Nauru might seem an unlikely focal point for global finance. The coral atoll, which was admitted to the United Nations last month, is one of the smallest nations in the world. It is near the equator, between Australia and Hawaii, where its closest neighbours include Banaba and the Nukumanu Islands. A senior US official said: "The central bank of Russia has come to us and confirmed that large amounts of Russian capital are flowing into and out of Nauru, and that has raised concerns on their part and on ours." International authorities say Nauru is increasingly providing cover for Russian organised crime. Mr Melnikov's $US70 billion figure is near the middle of a wide range of estimates. The very nature of offshore banking makes it difficult to measure the amount of money transferred through companies registered in Nauru. The emergence of this speck in the Pacific as a major offshore player is a recent phenomenon, fuelled in part by the growth of the Internet. To the frustration of international law enforcement, the Republic of Nauru provides even greater secrecy than such legendary havens as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. "Nauru's current offshore banking regime ... is an open invitation to financial crime and money laundering," the US State Department said in a 1998 report published in February. While Nauru's banking secrecy legislation has been in place since the 1970s, Nauru was listed as having "no priority" on the State Department's annual list of money-laundering trouble spots as recently as 1996. The general manager of the Nauruan agency that registers the offshore businesses said secrecy was a matter of state policy. But Mr S.B. Hulkar insisted the Nauru Agency Corporation maintained "very rigorous documentary requirements" and "that in itself ensures that responsible, reliable people apply". Nauru's President, Mr Rene Harris, declined to comment on the island's offshore services. "What's it got to do with you?" he asked angrily. The newly appointed US Ambassador to Nauru, who is based in Fiji, was asked whether the island is being used for money laundering when he travelled to Nauru last week to present his credentials. "They don't know if there is any extensive network of money laundering [using the island]," Mr M. Osman Siddique replied. "They said they have no way of figuring out what is good or bad." The Washington Post smh.com.au