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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (16070)	2/18/2000 3:33:00 PM
From: John Lacelle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17770

Gustave, Ok...good to see that you are concerned about the efforts of some European nations to create "security". Then I am surprised how you still support Clinton and Blair. Those two are the biggest proponents of massive state security systems. I believe that England is actually the closest to any "Police State" envisioned by George Orwell. I give as an example the fact that they have security cameras everywhere...they even have computer data systems that match faces with databanks of suspects and your movement through train stations, airports, and even street intersections is monitored. In the United States, Bill Clinton has used "terrorism" as the excuse to create "Big Brother" networks that monitor cell phones, the internet, and even regular telephone calls that use satelites or lines that exit the United States are monitored for suspicious activity. Americans used to believe in privacy but that is all gone now. Bill Clinton and his "Anti-terrorist" bills have ended any protection that we once had that protected American Citizens from unwarranted invasions of privacy. -John

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (16070)	2/21/2000 6:37:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Putin has every money man in his pocket and more... Russians Not Fazed by Shady Banks Sunday, 20 February 2000 M O S C O W (AP) FOR MOST Russians, banks are not symbols of stability. They exist not for lending or protecting money, but rather to serve the needs of business, which sometimes requires hiding income from the government. This world, where banks appear and disappear, often to little notice by regulators, is the backdrop of a $7 billion money-laundering scandal. The murky maze of Russian banking was on display last week in New York, where a former Bank of New York executive and her husband pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges. Lucy Edwards, the bank's former Eastern European Division vice president, and Peter Berlin admitted helping Russian bankers wash the billions through accounts at the bank in order to avoid Russian taxes and to cover up the money's connection to crimes - including money used as ransom for a kidnapping in Russia. The case also revealed the operations of so-called `pocket banks,' established to take care of the financial transactions of an individual company. Prosecutors say Edwards, Berlin and unidentified Russian coconspirators offered to transfer money in and out of Russia via two such pocket banks, making it easier to avoid complying with currency control regulations. In that case, customers were assured that funds would be transferred abroad without them having to open an account at an authorized bank or provide a contract, an import transaction passport, or a permit authorizing such a transfer. Prosecutors say the funds were transferred abroad by two Russian banks, DKB and Flamingo, using correspondent bank accounts at The Bank of New York. Russian businesses also directed customers to pay for goods or services by wiring funds to front companies set up by Berlin. They then received the proceeds in cash from DKB in Russia or had DKB wire the funds from the front companies' accounts to offshore accounts. Oleg Solovov, former deputy manager at DKB, said his bank had done nothing wrong according to Russian law. "If someone wants to send money abroad ... if they submit all the proper papers, the bank has no right not to conduct the transfer," he told ORT television on Saturday. The DKB and Flamingo banks have gone out of business, but the prominent banks that established them, Sobinbank and MDM, are still on the scene. Alexander Mamut, who had close ties with former President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, was a Sobinbank board member who later took the helm of MDM. He has denied any wrongdoing. MDM says it had no dealing with either DKB or Flamingo since 1996. Sobinbank officials could not be reached for comment Friday. Last autumn police raided offices of both Flamingo and Sobinbank. At Flamingo, they found $535,000 whose origin bank officials had trouble explaining. In Sobinbank's vault, officials found $1.6 million and 13 pounds of gold ingots, hidden in a niche. The money's owner, a top official in the state-controlled company that manufactures space rockets, said it came from a bank loan intended to help build a country home outside Moscow. He denied knowing where the gold came from. Russian police said at the time that money suspected to have been channeled to Bank of New York via Flamingo came from Sobinbank, but no legal action has followed. Nor have government promises to restructure the country's banking system and introduce stricter regulations since a national financial crisis in August 1998. A state agency charged with rebuilding the banking system after the crisis hasn't had the power or determination to stop bank owners from siphoning off assets. And Russian officials have so far kept mum on Edwards' and Berlin's testimony. Among the sea of questions left in the case is what affect - if any - it will have on acting President Vladmir Putin, who is running to keep his spot for good on March 26. He has spoken often of his commitment to combating corruption and has worked to distance himself from his predecessor's scandal-tinged administration. But his determination to investigate allegations against Yeltsin's inner circle remains to be proven. Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, said he believes Putin may sanction legal proceedings against some of the most controversial Russian tycoons in the run-up to the vote. "As the former security chief, he definitely has plenty of evidence against any of them," Petrov said in a telephone interview. "Every leading businessman here has somehow broken the law."