[ISN] Cyber-cash making money laundering easier-expert

Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05@uow.edu.au>

Cyber-cash making money laundering easier-expert
29-10-1998 05:47 

    WELLINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Increased use of new technologies such
as Internet banking and smart cards is making money laundering easier, the
head of an international policing unit said in New Zealand on Thursday. 
     "It's harder to regulate, the laws are a little behind the play in
terms of technology and audit trails are far less, so that's going to be a
big problem in the not too distant future," said Rick McDonell of the
Sydney-based Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering Secretariat. 
     McDonell said vastly increased volumes of electronic commerce have
made it easier for money launderers, allowing them to avoid the risks of
being reported by suspicious bank tellers or bank officers. 
     McDonell was in New Zealand meeting with law enforcement, banking and
regulatory experts from around the Asia-Pacific to discuss ways of
combating money laundering, particularly in offshore financial centres. 
     The International Monetary Fund has estimated between two and five
percent of global GDP is laundered around the world, which was a
staggering figure, said McDonell. 
     A tightening of regulations around the world had led organised crime
groups to look towards offshore centres in the South Pacific to launder
their money. 
     Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue and Nauru were all at risk,
said McDonell. 
     Timothy Lemay, an adviser on money laundering for the United Nations
Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, said many smaller countries
had requested assistance for training and legislating against money
laundering. 
     The workshop also highlighted a need to establish further standard
legal ways to seize and share money between affected countries. 
     "With global trade liberalisation, criminals can move money easily
over borders and around the world very quickly but the borders are still
there for law enforcement," said Lemay. 

-o-
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