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CSIS alleges Iran used Toronto company to wire millions to Canada despite sanctions

A Toronto currency exchange business helped Iran secretly wire millions of dollars into Canada in violation of sanctions, according to a classified intelligence report that calls the financial transfers a threat to national security. A Canadian Security Intelligence Service report obtained by Global News accuses Alireza Onghaei, the investor immigrant… Read More

UAE to take action against non-registered Hawala operators from December 3

The UAE Central Bank will start taking legal action against non-registered Hawala service providers when registration deadline expires on December 2, 2020, after which no Hawala service provider will be allowed to operate in the country. “After the deadline has expired, the Central Bank will impose the necessary legal and… Read More

The Sentry: African conflict gold is being laundered in Dubai

By David Klein, OCCRP, 13 November 2020 OCCRP – The years-long rise in international gold prices has driven a new artisanal gold mining and refining rush in conflict-affected areas in East and Central Africa and has turned the United Arab Emirates into the foremost launderer of such gold, according… Read More

16th November 2020

Call for three-year ban on EY bidding on public contracts

A prominent anti-corruption campaign group is calling on the government to ban EY from bidding on public contracts for three years, accusing the big four accounting and consultancy group of “recurring professional misconduct”. Spotlight on Corruption has written to the Crown Procurement Service asking it to examine if business… Read More

16th November 2020

Two Czech nationals caught leaving London for Dubai with cash-filled suitcases

Two Czech nationals caught at London’s Heathrow airport bound for Dubai with 1.2 million pounds ($1.58 million) in their suitcases have been charged with money laundering, the British government said on Friday. The pair, a man aged 37 and a woman aged 26, were stopped by border officials at 0900… Read More

12th November 2020

Gold market authority threatens to blacklist UAE and other centres

The world’s most influential gold market authority is threatening to stop bullion from countries including the United Arab Emirates entering the mainstream market if they fail to meet regulatory standards, a letter seen by Reuters showed. In the letter dated Nov. 6 addressed to countries with large gold markets, the… Read More

12th November 2020

Interpol’s global operation seizes tons of smuggled wildlife species

By Zdravko Ljubas, OCCRP, 10 November 2020 OCCRP – Law enforcement agencies across the world seized tonnes of protected wildlife and forestry specimens and products, such as ivory, red sandalwood, and turtles, during a month-long Interpol-coordinated operation which saw hundreds of arrests and prompted investigations worldwide. Operation Thunder 2020… Read More

11th November 2020

Phantom oil buyers in Russia, advice from Iran help Venezuela skirt sanctions

On Aug. 21, a tanker called the Otoman docked at the Jose oil terminal on Venezuela’s coast in the Caribbean to load 1.82 million barrels of heavy crude, according to the state oil company’s internal documents. Yet no tanker with that name is registered in major global shipping databases. Muddying… Read More

10th November 2020

Strange case of Dariga Nazarbayeva, mystery owner of Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street address

Who owned 221b Baker Street, the London property that served as Sherlock Holmes’s fictional home, has been a mystery worthy of an Arthur Conan Doyle novel. For five years there has been speculation about the identity f the flat’s proprietor. The Times can now reveal that the building — along… Read More

28th October 2020

UAE Central Bank fines 2 exchange houses for violating rules

The UAE Central Bank on Monday said it imposed administrative sanctions on two exchange houses for violating rules pertaining to anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism and illegal organisations. The regulator imposed Dh500,000 fine on one firm and Dh950,000 on another company for having weak anti-money laundering and combating… Read More

26th October 2020

Iraq emerges as new front for enforcement of Iran oil sanctions

Persian Gulf waters off Iraq have become a new, important waypoint for Iranian oil smugglers looking to avoid U.S. sanctions, according to American officials, who expressed frustration that Baghdad and other allies aren’t acting more aggressively to enforce curbs on commerce with Tehran. Iranian tankers now regularly transfer… Read More

23rd October 2020

Goldman Sachs fined record $2.9 billion to resolve 1MDB bribery scheme

Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s oldest and most prestigious banks, will pay $2.9 billion in penalties and fees to settle federal charges over its involvement in a Malaysian bribery scheme, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York charged the bank with conspiracy to… Read More

23rd October 2020

200 law firms suspended in UAE for failing to comply with AML procedures

A total of 200 law firms in the UAE that had failed to comply with anti-money laundering procedures have been suspended from practicing for one month. The Ministry of Justice has also called upon law firms to take necessary measures against money laundering and terrorist financing, Wam reported. The necessary… Read More

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