The Americas Post » White collar Crime

Anonymous strikes again in Mexico

tlc — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:31:37 +0000

The Americas Post - Anonymous doesn't like the flavor of the Mexican SOPA. Photo Credit: YouTube

Members of the international hacker group Anonymous said on Friday they had attacked Mexican government websites in protest of a bill seeking official controls over release of information on the internet.

Beginning in the morning, disabled websites included the Ministry of Interior (www.segob.gob.mx), Senate (www.senado.gob.mx), and Chamber of Deputies (www.diputados.gob.mx). Hours later, the sites were restored.

The reform initiative launched in December by Senator Federico Doring, of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), makes it a crime to share copies of works, music, videos and books protected by copyright on the internet, without authorization of the owners.

“We demand that the Mexican government discontinue this law because it takes away freedom of expression and file sharing,” the group said in a video posted on YouTube to explain the cyberattack.

Anonymous compared the reform proposed by Doring with the U.S. online anti-piracy bill known as SOPA, which was frozen by the Congress last week after major Internet firms protested against the measure.

The government said that Ministry of Interior databases were not at risk during the interruption.

“At no time was the site compromised; integrity of the information was assured,” said Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire, in a press conference in the city of Merida.

“We will check security protocols of the Secretariat website to ensure data integrity and avoid such attacks in the future,” he said.

In September, Anonymous successfully blocked the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) website, as well as Congressional web pages for Nayarit state and state government of San Luis Potosi.

That attack was carried out to protest insecurity in Mexico, amid drug-related violence that has killed more than 47,500 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006.

Illinois governor gets 14 years for corruption

tlc — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:30:53 +0000

The Americas Post - Blagojevich keeps up with Illinois governor tradition by going to jail.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of attempting to barter President Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat for campaign cash or personal favors, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Blagojevich led the fifth-most populous American state from January 2003 to January 2009, one month after his arrest for what Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald called “a political corruption crime spree.”

Blagojevich, 54, was found guilty of 17 charges in June. Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge James Zagel for a sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison, arguing it would set an example in a state where four of the nine most recent governors have been convicted for crimes committed before, during or after they held office.

The twice-elected Democrat received the longest sentence among the four Illinois governors sent to prison in the last four decades. He is the second in a row to go to jail; his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, is now serving 6 1/2 years. The other two did three years or less.

Blagojevich made a last plea for mercy, telling the judge he’d made “terrible mistakes” and admitted for the first time that he broke the law.

“I caused it all, I’m not blaming anybody,” Blagojevich said. “I was the governor and I should have known better and I am just so incredibly sorry.”

It didn’t help.

“Whatever good things you did for people as governor, and you did some, I am more concerned with the occasions when you wanted to use your powers … to do things that were only good for yourself,” Zagel said.

“The governor was not marched along this criminal path by his staff,” the judge concluded. “He marched them.”

Mexican PRI party leader quits before election

tlc — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:01:28 +0000

The Americas Post - Herman Cain isn't the only guy dropping out of an election. Photo Credit: Notimex

Caught up in a corruption scandal, the leader of Mexico’s leading opposition party resigned on Friday, just seven months before national elections in which his candidate is favored by a wide margin.

Humberto Moreira, who became president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) president in March of this year, was under pressure to resign for contracting irregularities during his administration as governor in the northern state of Coahuila. He is accused of falsifying documents relating to that state’s public debt, which shot up 344% during his watch.

“Today I’m here to tell you that I resign as president of the party’s National Executive Committee”, Moreira announced to a group of PRI officials. ”I will not permit a media war to damage my party”… ”I also do so because I have confidence in one man who is the hope of Mexico: Enrique Peña Nieto”, he said.

Before the scandal erupted, Moreira, 45, was a key figure in the push to restore the PRI to the power it held for 71 years, until 2000. The next election is scheduled for July 1, 2012. PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto is currently polling in the lead with a 25% lead over the second contender.

Moreira will be temporarily replaced by PRI general secretary Cristina Diaz, but Senator Pedro Coldwell is expected to be his successor according to party officials.

Extradition approved for Guatemalan ex-president

tlc — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:45:39 +0000

The Americas Post - Another former president heads off to jail. Photo Credit: Prensa Libre

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom announced Tuesday approval of a U.S. extradition order for former president Alfonso Portillo, who faces money laundering charges for the alleged embezzlement of $1.5 million in foreign donations.

Colom said Guatemalan courts have already approved Portillo’s extradition and that he will respect those rulings.

“The president should not get mixed up in the decisions of judges and justices,” Colom said. The nation’s supreme court approved the extradition request in August.

Portillo is charged in a New York federal court with money laundering and embezzling $1.5 million donated by Taiwan to buy schoolbooks for Guatemalan children. He allegedly deposited the money in Miami and transferred it to a Paris account in the name of his ex-wife and daughter.

After leaving office in 2004, Portillo fled to Mexico where he was granted a work visa to serve as financial adviser for a construction materials company.

He was extradited from Mexico to Guatemala in 2008 to face the embezzlement charges at home and remained free until his arrest on Jan. 26, 2010. Portillo was captured at a beach preparing to flee Guatemala by sea.

Colom did not specify a date for the extradition. The remaining administrative processes could take several months.

German company raided for Mexican arms sales

tlc — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:17:40 +0000

The Americas Post - Mexicans appreciate fine German workmanship

The factory of German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch was raided on Thursday by some 300 German agents, on suspicion of bribery related to the sale of weapons to Mexico in 2005.

Authorities in Stuttgart confirmed that the search, which included the homes of some employees, was for evidence of bribes paid to Mexican officials for approval of arms contracts over several years. The accusations include some German officials who prosecutors allege were also bribed.

For years investigators have suspected the German company of exporting arms to four states in Mexico “with violent internal conflicts”, in violation of German law. Authorities did not specify who the recipients of the weapons were. In January the Economics Ministry suspended all exports from that factory to Mexico.

Heckler & Koch was previously accused of violating an embargo on arms exports to Libya. The company has always denied any role in illegal sales, but declined to comment on the latest accusations.

Other current customers include the German police and military, as well as other NATO countries.

Brazilians rally against corruption

tlc — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:39:52 +0000

The Americas Post - Brazilians want to sweep out corruption

Thousands of Brazilians waving flags, signs and brooms have marched in numerous cities of that nation this week in a wave of protests against corruption.

The marches were coordinated by the Brazilian Movement Against Corruption, a new group formed via social media in response to various recent cases of politicians implicated in abuse of public funds or influence peddling. Organizers said that demonstrations took place in at least 18 cities and that more are planned.

In the nation’s capital Brasilia, demonstrators marched to the hall of Congress, where they swept the sidewalks with brooms carried as an anti-corruption symbol. The marches have been peaceful with the exception of Sao Paulo, where a small group wearing masks attacked other demonstrators and the press. Police detained one suspect for damaging doors at a bank and restaurant.

Former Bogota mayor jailed for corruption

tlc — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:35:03 +0000

Former Bogota Mayor Moreno was denied bail

Suspended Bogota Mayor Samuel Moreno is the latest high-profile Colombian official to be to be imprisoned for alleged corruption.

On trial for accepting bribes from contractors on public works contracts, Moreno, 51, was deemed to be a flight risk and locked up in Bogota’s high-security La Picota prison.

The grandson of Colombian army general and strongman Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, Moreno was three years into his term when suspended by the inspector general in May. President Juan Manuel Santos appointed Clara Lopez to serve out Moreno’s term, which ends Dec. 31.

The charges involve a multimillion-dollar contract to Grupo Nule for a new road from central Bogota to El Dorado International Airport, one of the largest public works projects in the country. Construction has already been plagued by delays and cost overruns.

On Monday, Moreno declined to plead guilty in return for a lesser sentence, claiming he was innocent of the alleged scheme. His brother Ivan, a Colombian senator who also faces charges in the case, was already jailed.

In July, former Uribe administration agriculture minister Andres Felipe Arias was imprisoned on charges of funneling illegal farm subsidies in exchange for promises to support his presidential campaign.

Argentine president found not guilty

tlc — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:20:22 +0000

Former Argentine leader Carlos Menem was charged with weapons trafficking

Former Argentine President Carlos Menem was acquitted along with 17 associates this week, on charges of violating arms embargoes on Ecuador and Croatia back in the 1990s.

Menem, who is 81, was spared a possible eight years in prison by the two members of his three-judge panel who found him not guilty.

The ex-president, who remains a sitting senator, denied trafficking in weapons during his administration from 1989 to 1999. He did admit signing secret decrees to export weapons to Venezuela and Panama, but claimed ignorance that tons Argentinian rifles and ammunition would reach Ecuador and Croatia, under international embargoes at the time.

“My acts as president were limited to signing the decrees to export the arms to Venezuela and Panama,” Menem testified. “From then on, all the documents escape the (control of) the president. I couldn’t go to the Customs service to see what the destination of the arms was.”

Menem’s co-defendants, including his former brother-in-law and aide Emir Yoma, former Defense Minister Oscar Camilion and former air force chief Juan Paulik, were also acquitted.

Prosecutors had requested a sentence of eight years in prison but even if convicted, Menem would have served time only if the Senate voted to remove the immunity Argentine lawmakers enjoy.

The former president was held under house arrest for six months in 2001, but at the time he faced only a conspiracy charge at the time and was freed by Argentina’s Supreme Court. By the time charges of arms trafficking were added, he enjoyed senatorial immunity. Beginning in 2008, the trial featured testimony by 383 witnesses, many via video hookup from Ecuador, Peru and Europe.

PRI advisor Judge Garzon against drug decriminalization and money laundering.

Carbonero — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:45:57 +0000

The Moreira Brothers (leaders of PRI) and Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón

Besides being an advisor of the Organization of American States (OAS), and directly involved in the peace process in Colombia, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón has been very active in other matters related to Latin American politics.

Recently in Mexico, Judge Garzón was invited to an international Conference on Money Laundering. During the event, the famous Spanish judge said “the fight against money laundering should be rigorous and global, otherwise it will fail”.
Global War on Money Laundering .- During the closing ceremony of the Forum “Democratic legality, Ethics, Human Rights and Security” held at the Mexican Congress , Judge Garzón also said that “money laundering is an international phenomenon so it must be combatted on a multilateral basis as it would otherwise be a failure.”
Legislators, officials and Mexican specialists agreed with Garzon on the importance of globally combatting organized crime and money laundering, and also agreed on fighting it both locally and internationally.

Garzon recommended Mexico modernize their traditional organized crime research and invest in new technology to combat money laundering.

“A money laundering law must be rigorous and it is urgent to establish launderer´s behaviors and mechanisms, such as those imposed in other countries,” he said.

Against decriminalization of drug trafficking.- In a press conference after the event, Judge Garzon spoke against drug decriminalization. He said that in Mexico decriminalization is not going to end organized crime, because besides drugs, cartels and criminal gangs are also engaged in kidnapping, extortion, trafficking and vehicle theft.

First, Garzón said, is necessary to create “a joint policy of prevention to reduce the risk of consumption.”

Judge Garzón also advisor of the opposition Mexican Political Party PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) .-

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon is active in Mexico.

Humberto Moreira, national president of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) held the first of several meetings that will take place with judge Baltasar Garzon as advisor of the PRI, in order to polish the PRI’s political platform on the issue of human rights, public safety and combatting organized crime.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PRI, as well as the former governor of Hidalgo, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, secretary of political operations of the PRI, are having this round of consultations with Judge Garzón as well as other international experts to ensure a viable anti-crime proposal.

During the meeting, Garzón declared himself in favor of strengthening institutional frameworks against drug trafficking before talking about new laws. Garzón has a more practical and hands on point of view.
Moreira Valdes (PRI) said in an interview that the party’s central concern is how to ensure respect for human rights in the fight against organized crime.

He also revealed that this is the third meeting he has with Baltasar Garzon, in an attempt to define the direction of the security strategy that the country should take.

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon also called for strict control of rating agencies Moody´s. Standard Poor´s and Fitch.-

Last Tuesday, Judge Garzón called on all countries to establish control and oversight over the rating agencies to avoid possible “organized criminal activity” affecting the investment markets and countries.
“There is no control on them on such activities that have become landmarks,” said the judge at the close of the forum “democratic legality, ethics, human rights and security” that took place in chamber of Deputies in Mexico City.
International agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, are allegedly responsible for aggravating the global financial crisis by lending support to controversial downgrades against many countries.
“I’m disturbed by the justice system´s inaction from the various judicial actors” on the role and control of the rating agencies in today’s volatile markets that “are about to bring many countries to ruin,” he said.
Garzon said he was not sure that these agencies perform criminal acts but said the rating agencies “should have a strict regulation” to be sure that “there is no organized criminal activity around the constant speculation on markets and investments.”
Addressing more than a hundred legislators, academics, officials and experts from Mexico and other countries, Garzon said that economic and financial crime is “produced by large corporations through mechanisms of corruption” and market operations.
The judge said that the actions of the rating agencies “can lead countries to ruin or a rising cost of public debt or external debt, to unsuspected limits.”

Univisión: Bolivian Police Commander Oscar Nina accused of complicity with Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman and Sinaloa Cartel

Carbonero — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 17:52:50 +0000

The former Director of the Special Anti Narcotics Force in Bolivia Gral. Oscar Nina. Photo Credit to Abi Agencia

The U.S. television network Univision claims to have access to Bolivian intelligence reports.

In Univision´s report, released Thursday, the network linked the former commander of the Bolivian Police General Oscar Nina with the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera , known as “Chapo” (Shorty).

The Police Commander Nina allegedly provided protection when Chapo Guzman was in Bolivia. However, Nina rejected the accusation.
The TV network states that the Bolivian government met this report days before the arrest in Panama of the country’s former anti-drug Czar René Sanabria, now in jail in the United States.
Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said yesterday that the government will study the Univision video, but he ruled out the presence of drug cartels in Bolivia.
Who is Joaquin Guzman? “Shorty”, 52, is the leader of an international drug dealers called “Alianza de Sangre”, known as the Sinaloa cartel, leading operator in the illegal drug trafficking industry in Mexico and would be the new “king of cocaine and synthetic drugs in the world. “ He is the FBI´s second most wanted criminal .
Univision reported that Chapo Guzman “took advantage of the environment of corruption in Bolivia to expand his cocaine business and also sent one of his children to this country.”

Bolivia is the third world producer of cocaine, after Peru and Colombia, and is now the hub where much of the cocaine of the region is shipped via Brazil and Argentina, then to Africa, Europe and to the U.S. via the Caribbean route.
Univision interviewed Maximiliano Paredes, a well known Brazilian drug trafficker, who also lived and operated in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) , but is now in jail in Brazil. He said that “the presence of Joaquin ‘Chapo’ Guzman in Bolivia is a “well known secret”. Paredes heard that the leader of the Sinaloa cartel had been in Santa Cruz.
The report said that at least 40 Bolivian nationals provided coverage to Guzman´s cocaine business in Bolivia.