Search Results for: Lebanese

• 1MDB SCANDAL IN MALAYSIA SEES USD BILLIONS STOLEN AND HIDDEN

Malaysia 1MDB scandal is one of the largest money laundering cases ever, worldwide, with Malaysian courts considering charges over how at least USD4.5 billion was stolen and then spent or laundered from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad by former Prime Minister Najib Razak and his associates.…

The large-scale civil protests that erupted across Lebanon in October 2019, and which continue today, have promoted large scale money laundering thought concerted and often successful attempts to avoid capital controls imposed by Lebanese banks to head off failure. Billions of dollars have flown out of the country, the Banque du Liban, the central bank, has warned, while Lebanese consumers have frantically withdrawn deposits as the Lebanese Pound LBP)  has devalued against the US dollar – in October it was officially pegged to the US dollar at LBP1,507 and began to trade above that rate after the protests began, reaching LBP2,700 to the USD in March 2020.…

In a market long dominated by well-established players, the success of ‘masstige’ beauty brands, which combine elements of mass and luxury products, is creating fierce competition in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Consumers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman looking for skincare and cosmetics are increasingly shopping from South Korean brands such as Etude House, which opened a branch in Dubai Mall in 2018 and is known for its quirky kitsch products, and The Face Shop, which arrived in Dubai in 2008 and recently renovated its four concept stores in the city.…

Sales of new cars in Lebanon have plunged 74% in the last two months of 2019 (compared to November and December 2018) as the country has faced financial and political chaos following the eruption of mass demonstrations in October. these prompted the resignation of the government – and while a new administration under Prime Minister Hassan Diab Took office on January 22, business transactions continue to be hampered by restricted access to US dollars.…

ISRAEL faces a particularly high terrorist-financing risk from outside its borders, while fraud, tax offences, organised crime, public sector corruption and the use of cash heighten domestic money laundering risks. The Israeli government has integrated these risks into its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) policies and laws.…

MONEY service businesses (MSBs) are having a tougher time operating in compliance with international AMF/CFT rules, especially those in emerging market countries, where they have to deal with a double challenge of tighter controls and derisking by banking partners.

MSBs throughout the Middle East, for instance, have been hit by derisking from correspondent banks as well as designations by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).…

TRADE-based money laundering (TBML) continues to be a complex typology that is tough for law enforcement to detect and ML regulators to control.

The risk is that with Iran being subject to new USA sanctions, the use of TBML is going to grow in the short term, warn experts.…

Paint markets throughout much of the Middle East are experiencing a downturn due to the region’s political instability and economic slowdown. However, manufacturers are nonetheless betting on a rebound as larger projects re-start and reconstruction begins in certain markets.

In the oil-based economies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, lower oil prices have hit government budgets, causing state-backed projects to be suspended or delayed, while having a knock-on effect on the wider economy.…

Egypt’s anti-money laundering AML regime is being undermined by the lack of an independent judiciary and the economically-active military increasingly above the law, despite reforms to the law governing an Administrative Control Authority charged with curbing corruption.

Another concern voiced by AML experts is the weakening of Central Bank of Egypt’ independence under the government of strongman President Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi, a former field marshal.…

Egypt’s attempts to crack down on corruption, commercial crime and money laundering are real. But they are being undermined by low existing standards, government authoritarianism and blind-eyes turned to military wrong-doing, anti-crime experts argue. Paul Cochrane reports.

The Egyptian government talks a good game when it comes to fighting financial crime.…