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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (66642)	2/4/2001 11:04:09 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 122087

Swiss Investigate Firm of Marc Rich By JONATHAN FOWLER .c The Associated Press GENEVA (AP) - Swiss officials are investigating whether the company of former U.S. fugitive billionaire Marc Rich has complied with Switzerland's laws against money laundering, an official said Sunday. Rich, whose last-minute pardon by former President Clinton has sparked congressional inquiries in Washington, is threatening to move his operations out of Switzerland because of the probe, his lawyer, Andre Wicki, said. ``Of course Marc Rich is free to relocate to wherever he pleases,'' Daniel Eckmann, Finance Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press. ``But we're not impressed at all when we hear threats.'' In an effort to clamp down on money laundering, Switzerland last April extended bank-like regulations to other corporations handling large sums of cash. Eckmann said Swiss authorities were trying to determine whether the Marc Rich Group should have submitted to a self-policing organization of like enterprises. The money-laundering law says such watchdog bodies must control and verify the origin of transactions. ``It's important to apply the law in a credible way,'' Eckmann said. ``We're certainly not willing to apply it differently to different categories of business.'' Rich maintains that commodities trading should be exempt from the law because it is totally unlike banking, Wicki said. ``Banking is based on long-term business relationships,'' while commodities trading is fast and based on snap decisions, Wicki was quoted Saturday as telling the mass-circulation daily Blick. Eckmann stressed that the Swiss investigation is only to determine whether the law applies to the Marc Rich Group. Rich has been based in the central Swiss state of Zug - a Swiss tax haven - since 1983, just before he was indicted in the United States for tax evasion of more than $48 million, fraud and circumventing U.S. oil price restrictions. Wicki was quoted by Blick on Saturday as saying his client would pull the group out of Zug if forced to comply with the money-laundering law. Wicki said Rich, 66, likely would relocate to London or shut his company. ``If the Group goes, then hundreds of millions in taxes will go with it. And hundreds of highly qualified jobs,'' he said. The U.S. Department of Justice accused Rich of conspiring in April 1980 with the Iranian government to purchase more than six million barrels of oil, in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed over the U.S. hostage crisis. Switzerland, which does not recognize tax evasion as a crime, has refused to extradite Rich to the United States since the indictment. In his bid for a presidential pardon, Rich reportedly urged Swiss and others to write letters to Clinton on his behalf. Some 70 people in Europe, Israel and the United States responded, many of them from Switzerland- including local politicians - citing Rich's philanthropic activity. Swiss newspapers, which have questioned the ethics of the support for Rich, have acknowledged that his foundations do contribute to charitable works. He is listed by the Swiss financial monthly of having a personal wealth of about $1.2 billion. His Doron Foundation gives annual awards totaling about $304,000 to a variety of recipients, including drug counseling units, orchestras and educators. The Rich Foundation for Education, Culture and Welfare says it donates $3.6 million annually, and the Rich Gabrielle Leukemia Research Foundation $1.52 million. Clinton's pardon of Rich, among 176 pardons and clemencies he issued just before leaving the White House last month, has led to allegations that it was tied to political contributions from Rich's ex-wife, Denise, a successful New York songwriter. The House Government Reform Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee are holding hearings on the pardon this week. Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who chairs the House panel, said he wants to examine whether Clinton ``had an improper motive'' for pardoning Rich. AP-NY-02-04-01 1603EST