Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in Canada
"The Port of Montreal is a known link where luxury vehicles are shipped to Lebanon, financially supporting Hezbollah."
"While
the volume of terrorist financing in Canada is assessed to be low, the
consequences of enabling deadly and destructive terrorist attacks in
Canada and abroad are grave."
"The misuse of the charitable and NPO sectors has been observed as a prominent financing method used by Hamas and Hezbollah."
"Hezbollah
remains a highly active global player in the cocaine, heroin, fentanyl,
and captagon trades with trafficking networks spanning Latin America,
Canada, and the United States."
Department of Finance report
"Organizations
like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide
humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for
much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups."
Treasury spokesman Bradley T. Smith
Hezbollah fighters Photo by AP Photo/Hussein Malla
Canada
remains a hub for terrorist financing, enabling extremist groups to
capitalize on everything from charitable fraud to rising rates of drug
trafficking as well as auto theft, according to a newly-released 125
page report from the Department of Finance. Hezbollah, the Lebanese
terrorist group is recognized as a leading recipient of funding
originating from Canada, the black market vehicle trade in particular.
Compared
to the problem of conventional money laundering, the amount of
terrorist financing originating in Canada is deemed relatively low, but
the authors of the report note that the damage that can be done by "a lone terrorist actor or terrorist group" represents a threat of potential negative consequences proportionately higher.
Canadian
money ends up with the Palestinian terror group Hamas, not only
Hezbollah, in addition to extremist Sikh groups named as Babbar Khalsa
International and the International Sikh Youth Federation; all
organizations that "have been observed by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to receive financial support originating from Canada", the report notes.
The funding is derived from various sources; from "crowdfunding" to crypto currencies to "abuse of non-profit organizations".
Toronto resident Khalilullh Yousuf was given a 12-year sentence four
months ago for organizing GoFundMe campaigns to, on the surface, raise
money for humanitarian purposes for Gaza, while actually funnelling it
to Islamic State affiliates.
Canada
listed Samidoun, the Vancouver-based anti-Israel group last October as a
terror entity, as did the United States. Long active in promoting
terrorist ideology in Canada and abroad, Samidoun's status was that of a
fundraiser for terror groups, specifically the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, cited as the primary focus to list it as a
terror group. Despite which its status has not changed, it remains
listed as a charitable group, and it is free to continue its illegal
activities due to the fact that the Liberal government has done nothing
to disrupt its activities as the illegal entity it is.
Samidoun Website
The
Department of Justice cited Canada's lucrative illicit drug trade as
one where terrorist groups were the likely beneficiaries. Hezbollah's
use of the Port of Montreal to ship out luxury cars represents only one
of several criminal organizations that use the same tactics. When rates
of auto theft were at all-time highs in 2022, industry representatives
stated that it was well-known that stolen cars were headed to Montreal
on their way to leaving Canada. "The
question is, how serious, or how bad does this situation have to become
before the authorities really do something about it?" said a frustrated David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada.
CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service)
estimates Canadian money laundering networks move between $45 to $113
billion annually in total, of which money laundering for terrorism is
but a relatively small part. The real alarm raised by the report notes
that hostile state actors manage similar money laundering networks to
finance interference plots within Canada itself.
The Port of Montreal's location makes it a hub for the illegal export of stolen vehicles to Africa and the Middle East. (Charles Contant/CBC)
"Foreign states seeking to interfere in Canada often rely on networks of proxies within Canada to carry out their activities."
"Foreign
states seeking to funnel money into foreign interference activities can
take advantage of existing networks, often criminal in nature, to
co-mingle and launder funds from different sources."
Department of Finance report
Deputy
Commissioner Marty Kearns,
Investigations and Organized Crime at the Ontario Provincial Police,
left, talks with Deputy Chief Benoit Dube of the Surete du Quebec beside
two recovered stolen vehicles during a news conference in
Montreal. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
"On Sunday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists announced
the collaboration of more than 100 publications worldwide to report on the biggest electronic leak in history: the Panama Papers.
These documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca total 11.5 million
separate items spanning 40 years, and take up 2.6 terabytes of information—more than 1,500 times the size of
the WikiLeaks State Department cables. Among the most explosive revelations from
the leak are $2 billion in payouts to Vladimir Putin’s friends, family
members, and allies, and that global soccer superstar Lionel Messi and his
father set up an offshore company to which they are the only beneficiaries...." Slate Magazine online, April 4, 2016
Handout TV grab from Telemetro Panama showing Ramon Fonseca, one of the founders of
Panama's Mossack Fonseca law firm, in Panama City, on April 4, 2016Credit:
AFP PHOTO/TELEMETRO PANAMA
"[Revealing unauthorized details of the offshore
structures of wealthy clients is a] crime [an] attack [on
Panama]."
"This is a crime, a felony. This is an attack on Panama because certain countries don’t like it that we are so competitive in attracting companies."
Ramon Fonseca, one of the founders of Mossack Fonseca
View
of a sign outside the building where Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law
firm offices are placed in Panama City on April 3, 2016. (AFP PHOTO /
RODRIGO ARANGUA)
But according to Dmitri Petrov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, the revelations represent a conspiracy cooked up by Russia's Western enemies to smear Mr. Putin and Russia. "It’s clear that the level of Putinphobia has reached a level at
which it is impossible a priori to speak well of Russia, and it’s
required to speak ill of Russia", he stated, denying at the same time that his wife is another owner of a beneficial company to evade taxes.
"My wife does not
and has never owned any offshore companies. Based on this I am inclined
to doubt the authenticity of other claims." But hold on there a minute; Mr. Peskov's wife, former Olympic ice skater Tatiana Navka is shown to have set up Carina Global Assets Ltd., in 2015, using agents on the Isle of Man to aid her in her investments portfolio, according to documents from the Panama Papers, including a copy of her own passport for identification purposes.
One might ask what do Sigmundur Davio Gunnlaugsson, prime minister of Iceland, the offspring of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister David Cameron's father, Mauricio Macri, president of Argentina, Syria's Bashar al Assad, Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, Ayad Allawi, former prime minister of Iraq; Bidzina Ivanishvili, former Georgian prime minister, Ali Abu al-Ragab, former prime minister of Jordan, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former emir of Qatar, Ahmad Ali al Mirghani, former president of Sudan, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of UAE, and Pavio Lazarenko, former prime minijster of Ukraine have in common?
Well, for starters, their complicated names, their 'former' status in a great many instances, and their obvious desire to escape notice for taxation purposes and in the process become the recipient of untold additional riches to add to their existing considerable wealth. And all kept out of the public eye. No longer away from the public's notice, there will be a lot of explaining to do, and many will lose face, let alone their political positions, albeit not those in the Middle East.
The information dragnet is voluminous to a fault, an incredible scoop of data released for public scrutiny and private shame. But apart from the inconvenience of revelations best kept hidden, many of these people have no shame, just an overweening entitlement, and the grasping desire to become more wealthy than they already are, and if the looting of public treasury and the white-washing of ill-gotten gains through corrupt transactions are involved, that's just the way the elite world of wealth making more wealth operates.
Russian state media itself reveals that $2-trillion in state assets have left the country in the past few years ... to end up, where? Among the unsavoury elements being revealed is the background of one of the founders of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca; there is the appalled Ramon Fonseca, attempting fruitlessly to divert attention from the criminal aspect of the firm's business, expressing frustration and innocence and criminality on the part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists who leaked the revelatory documents.
And then, there is the other partner whose father, Erhard Mossack, was one of the law firm's co-founders. The current partner, Jurgen Mossack, has been silent so far. His father had been a member of the armed wing of Germany's Nazi party, known as the Death Heads, whose insignia was just that. U.S. Army intelligence files verify his status in that dread World War Two Nazi elite group whose function was to administer the death camps where millions of Jews, political prisoners, gays, gypsies, met their deaths.
It is the still-murky connection of Vladimir Putin and how he has benefited personally that will be of greatest interest, a man who has amassed a staggering fortune as president, prime minister and again president of the Russian Federation. Whose good friend Sergei Roldugin, director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory is directly responsible for managing massive amounts of money through shell companies.
But Mr. Putin is, of course, innocent of any wrongdoing, his press secretary attests to that: "Here we see no intent to conduct objective investigations, we see just an intention to publish a hatchet job", he complained in defense of his boss.
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
