Search Results for: Lebanese
10 results out of 116 results found for 'Lebanese'.
FINANCING ESPIONAGE - MOVING MONEY AROUND THE WORLD'S SPY NETWORKS
BY PAUL COCHRANE
INTELLIGENCE agencies by their very nature are secretive. So too are budgetary expenses and the ways in which agencies finance operations, especially in foreign jurisdictions and where they carry out so-called ‘black ops’. The techniques to quietly transfer funds do not in fact differ that widely from organised crime or terrorist groups, using banking services, front companies, charities and the like.…
LEBANESE-CANADIAN BANK DESIGNATED A PRIME MONEY LAUNDERING CONCERN
BY PAUL COCHRANE
EARLIER this year, the Lebanese-Canadian Bank (LCB) was designated by the United States as a prime money laundering concern, for alleged connections to drug traffickers and acting as a financial conduit for Lebanese political party Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist organisation.…
FREEZING OUT AL QAEDA AND THE TALIBAN
BY PAUL COCHRANE
UNDER the United Nations’ Al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions regime, more than 30 states have frozen at least US dollars USD90 million in assets as of September 2010. But Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other designated terrorist groups in the Middle East and Central Asia continue to receive funding despite the region’s widespread adoption of international regulations on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CTF).…
POLITICAL WRANGLING AND RED TAPE OBSTRUCTS LEBANESE OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION
BY SAMI HALABI
BEFORE the county’s 1975-90 civil war Lebanon was an oil transit nation, with pipelines running through its territory from Saudi Arabia, and export terminals on its shores. Today, the country cannot even produce the electricity it needs to power its cities and is completely dependent on imports of oil and gas for energy.…
LEVENTINE OLIVE OIL PRODUCTION PUSHING TOWARDS MODERNITY
BY PAUL COCHRANE
OLIVE oil production in the Levantine counties of the Middle East has moved away from traditional methods to bolster exports and develop domestic sales. But where Syria has risen to be the fourth largest producer in the world, Jordan’s modernisation of the sector is being undermined by cheap smuggled olive oil from Syria, and Lebanon needs major investment to bring the sector up to speed.…
BYPASSING THE SANCTIONS: SYRIA-IRANIAN BANK FACING SCRUTINY
BY PAUL COCHRANE
SYRIA and Iran are both designated by the US state department as sponsors of terrorism, while the countries’ major state-run banks are blacklisted by the US Treasury Department, which places the banks under scrutiny and prevents them from dealing with the American financial system.…
STOWAWAY DEATH PROMPTS BEIRUT AIRPORT SECURITY UPGRADE
BY SAMI HALABI
THE LEBANESE government is preparing tenders for around US$13 million security improvements at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport, after a stowaway incident prompted a review. In July, maintenance crews in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia found the deceased body of 20-year old Firas Haidar in the landing gear of a flight from Beirut.…
HIJABISTAS USING PURCHASING POWER TO BUY MUSLIM-FRIENDLY FASHION
BY PAUL COCHRANE
MUSLIM fashion is traditionally conservative – a far cry from the often flashy fashion runways of the West. But a younger Muslim generation of female ‘hijabistas’ is combining Islamic values with high fashion, working hijabs and other head coverings into high-end, high fashion knitted and crocheted outfits.…
EU OFFERS ACCESS TO MIDDLE EAST CONFECTIONERY EXPORTERS
BY PAUL COCHRANE
CONFECTIONERY manufacturers in the Middle East are not only ideally placed geographically to sell their products to the rich European Union (EU) market, they are assisted by a series of free trade agreements either in place, or in the works.…
SOMALI PIRACY AND THE SPECTRE OF MONEY LAUNDERING
BY PAUL COCHRANE
PIRACY has increased exponentially off the coast of Somalia in recent years, with ships hijacked deep into international waters despite the presence of a multi-national naval task force, and pirates demanding ever higher ransoms from shipping companies. But while the spoils of piracy are evident in coastal Somali towns, tracking down where the remaining millions of dollars disappear to is hard to pin down, with allegations circulating of ransom money entering the real estate markets of Kenya, to money laundering in Yemen and Dubai.…