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Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor

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Essaba
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Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor

Message par Essaba » déc. 18, 09 9:43 am



Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor


Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions



http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/rajeev-syal" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{Rajeev Syal}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}">Rajeev Syal

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{The Observer}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{2}">The Observer,
Sunday 13 December 2009
Article">http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/d ... cl#Article history

Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/unitednations" title="More from guardian.co.uk on United Nations">United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.

Antonio
Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen
evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid
investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse
last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs
profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.

This
will raise questions about crime's influence on the economic system at
times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking
sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call
for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his
office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being
absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by
intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. "In many
instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital.
In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main
problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor," he said.

Some
of the evidence put before his office indicated that gang money was
used to save some banks from collapse when lending seized up, he said.

"Inter-bank loans were funded by money that originated from the http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/drugs-trade" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Drugs trade">drugs trade
and other illegal activities... There were signs that some banks were
rescued that way." Costa declined to identify countries or banks that
may have received any drugs money, saying that would be inappropriate
because his office is supposed to address the problem, not apportion
blame. But he said the money is now a part of the official system and
had been effectively laundered.

"That was the moment [last year]
when the system was basically paralysed because of the unwillingness of
banks to lend money to one another. The progressive liquidisation to
the system and the progressive improvement by some banks of their share
values [has meant that] the problem [of illegal money] has become much
less serious than it was," he said.

The IMF estimated that large
US and European banks lost more than $1tn on toxic assets and from bad
loans from January 2007 to September 2009 and more than 200 mortgage
lenders went bankrupt. Many major institutions either failed, were
acquired under duress, or were subject to government takeover.

Gangs
are now believed to make most of their profits from the drugs trade and
are estimated to be worth £352bn, the UN says. They have traditionally
kept proceeds in cash or moved it offshore to hide it from the
authorities. It is understood that evidence that drug money has flowed
into banks came from officials in Britain, Switzerland, Italy and the
US.

British bankers would want to see any evidence that Costa has
to back his claims. A British Bankers' Association spokesman said: "We
have not been party to any regulatory dialogue that would support a
theory of this kind. There was clearly a lack of liquidity in the
system and to a large degree this was filled by the intervention of
central banks."






"Quand les blancs sont venus en Afrique, nous avions la terre et ils avaient la Bible.Ils nous ont demandé de prier avec les yeux fermés; quand nous avons ouvert les yeux, les blanc avaient la terre et nous avions la Bible." Jomo Kenyatta



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