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Video of Grenada PM receiving ‘bribe’ surfaces in US, Grenada Gov’t refuses to request a copy

December 7, 2006
Grenada authorities have turned down the offer of a video tape showing their Prime Minister receiving a $500,000 cash ‘bribe' from investment fraudster Eric Resteiner, OffshoreAlert can reveal.They were notified more than 12 months ago by Resteiner's attorney, John Amabile, that a copy of the six-year-old tape still existed and that it could be obtained through a formal request for assistance to the authorities in the United States, where Resteiner is in custody awaiting sentencing for seven counts of mail and wire fraud to which he pleaded guilty earlier this year at the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Letter from Bermuda: Bermuda gets a strong, new Premier

November 9, 2006
As of the end of October, Bermuda's sixth Premier in the past 11 years was sworn in. Only two of the six were elected. The other four were either asked to lead the country by their supporters or simply stole

Letter from Bermuda: Tree surgery

October 5, 2006
Bermuda politics is inscrutable. Ten years ago, there was a political outcry when former long serving Premier Sir John Swan was behind a plan to open a McDonald's fast food restaurant on the Island. Opposition to this move came from

Ex-Ukraine PM/Offshore banker receives nine-year prison-term

August 28, 2006
More than two years after being found guilty of several corruption-related charges by a United States jury, former Ukraine Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko has been sentenced to nine years in prison. Lazarenko, 53, was also fined $10 million at his sentencing hearing at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California on August 25, 2006. The sentencing proceedings are on-going, and the Court will address the restitution claims of victims and the United States' request for $22,846,000 in forfeiture at hearings on August 31, 2006 and September 29, 2006. 

Corruption-related MLAT request unsealed after nearly three years

August 8, 2006
Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged corruption - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance by Trinidad & Tobago - that was filed under seal at federal court in the USA on September 23, 2003 and unsealed on May 15, 2006. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Namcaran Singh, Cosmas Bonaparte, Horace Blake, Robert Paladino, Clive Forgenie, Lincoln Doman, Saleema Doman, Finbar Gangar, Ken Hovington, Ralph Maraj, Basdeo Panday, David Perri, Lawrence Bober, Christopher Cator, Martin Oliver, Devanand Ramlal, Ganga Singh, Trevor Sudarna, Vishnu Ramlogan, York Research Corporation, InnCOGEN Project, U.S. Credit & Commerce Inc., Bank of New York, Caroni (1975) Limited, CNS Developers (Trinidad) Limited, Design Build International Inc., Design Build Professionals Inc., Innercob Industries (T'dad) Limited, York Research Corporation, Inn COGEN Limited, Loeb Partners Corporation, NRG Energy Inc., Tourism and Industrial Development Company Limited, Trinidad Business Consultants Inc., Trinidad Business Consultants Ltd., and Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission.

Latin America Round-Up: July 10, 2006

July 10, 2006
CHILE: The Arms-Laundering Connection; COLOMBIA: Updated Black List; INTERNATIONAL: International Cooperation Facilitates Capture; PANAMA: Towards Expansion?; and PERU: García Wins; and New Tools to Fight against Laundering.

Wachovia Bank seeks to avoid giving records to Antigua corruption investigators

July 10, 2006
Wachovia Bank is trying to avoid turning over records to the Antigua Government for an investigation into alleged corruption by former Prime Minister Lester Bird, offshore banker Bruce Rappaport and others. The North Carolina-domiciled bank has applied for a protective order in a civil complaint filed by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Florida on February 23, 2006. 

Letter from Bermuda: What an independent Bermuda would look like

June 7, 2006
Bermudians have had a taste in the past couple of weeks of the kind of society an independent Bermuda would be. It's not going to be much fun. A controversy has broken out, which in a mature democracy would equal a constitutional crisis, with rioting and soldiers out in force. Here, it's a mix of business as usual and “who cares?”.

Latin America Round-Up: June 7, 2006

June 7, 2006
COLOMBIA: Uribe set for win;; Arrested for Money Laundering; MEXICO: Laundering Couple Trapped; NICARAGUA: Efforts to Repatriate Alemán's Assets Continue; PANAMA: Prestigious Law Firm Involved in Pinochet Scandal; and PARAGUAY: Saving Cooperatives under Scrutiny.

Letter from Bermuda: All but one of BHC crooks escape punishment

April 6, 2006
At the end of March, Bermuda convicted a man for his part in a $10 million government swindle. That fact, which is hardly earth-shattering, is surprising on several counts.The man convicted was employed by the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC), a government-funded, yet supposedly independent, body whose job, as best anyone can tell, is to collect rent and carry out repairs on houses owned by government. It might be responsible for housing those who cannot house themselves, but if so, it conspicuously fails to do that. In the past few years, it has evicted more people than it has helped.

Letter from Bermuda: Rewarding abject incompetence & rampant corruption

March 6, 2006
A review has concluded that Bermuda's politicians should be rewarded on a par with their commercial counterparts. Under proposals that will become law, parliamentary salaries will rise by as much as 90 percent. Premier Alex Scott's pay should be increased to $200,000 a year, from the present $120,000, the report said. Minister of Finance Paula Cox should be paid $170,000 as a full-timer, or $120,000 as a part-timer. She currently earns $95,286. The pay for being Deputy Premier, currently Dr. Ewart Brown, should increase to $162,000 as a full-time Minister, or $112,000 as a part-timer. Dr. Brown is now paid $88,713.

Letter from Bermuda: New political parties on the horizon

February 5, 2006
Signs are appearing of a fragmentation of the Bermudian political scene. We have two main parties, and three new “parties” are making noises off. From time to time, a small number of people will break off from one of the two big parties to form a new one, but these independents never last long.

Letter from Bermuda: Offensive Government Leaders

January 5, 2006
Even the most socially aware can succumb to compassion fatigue, the exhaustion caused by caring too much about those less fortunate than ourselves. Caring is a part-time occupation for most of us, so if we take a break from it, not a great deal of damage would be done. What happens, however, when a government stops caring about the people it was elected to serve and protect? We have a Progressive Labour Party (PLP) government. The promise in those words — “progressive” and “labour” — suggests to the poor and less comfortable that someone is looking out for them. The PLP promise, however, appears to be worth little.

Ten indicted for alleged corruption and fraud regarding Trinidad airport project

January 4, 2006
Eight individuals and two companies have been criminally indicted in the United States on multiple counts of fraud and money laundering concerning the construction of Piarco International Airport in Trinidad & Tobago. Prosecutors are also seeking an asset forfeiture order of at least $15 million against the defendants.

Letter from Bermuda: Independence debate drags on, and on, and on …

December 6, 2005
The “debate” over whether Bermuda should go independent has always been a waste of time, but now it has descended into farce. If the possible financial ruin of a successful country could ever be said to be funny, what's going on here would be hilarious.

Offshore attorney accused in alleged Haiti kickback scheme

December 5, 2005
An offshore attorney has been accused of helping Jean-Bertrand Aristide misappropriate millions of dollars through fraud and corruption while he was president of Haiti.British national Adrian Corr, a 41-year-old partner with Miller Simons O'Sullivan, in the Turks & Caicos Islands, established and administered a shell firm - Mont Salem Management Ltd. - that received and distributed kickbacks and bribes paid by U. S. and Canadian telecommunications carriers to Aristide and his accomplices, it has been alleged. Corr also allegedly wrote at least one letter in which he “falsely represented” that Mont Salem was “a telecommunications carrier” with operations in the U. S. and Canada.

Dominican Republic seeks extradition of Israeli national

November 4, 2005
A 40 year old Israeli national who is charged with bribery, fraud and embezzlement in the Dominican Republic has been arrested in Miami after extradition proceedings were started against him.An extradition complaint was filed against Shlomo Ben Tov, a.k.a. Sam

US residents asked to testify in Iraq genocide inquiry

November 4, 2005
Evidence from five United States residents has been requested as part of a war crimes investigation into the alleged genocide of Kurds in Iraq under the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Details are contained in an application for

Letter from Bermuda: Corrupt, incompetent Gov’t outdoes itself with Independence Report

October 4, 2005
Last year, the Progressive Labour Party government of Bermuda commissioned an ‘independent' review of the issue of independence from Great Britain.A committee was selected to investigate the matter that was loaded with bias in favour of independence. Two of its members were the loudest, if least coherent, proponents of independence that we have. One of these two, Dame Lois Browne-Evans, is so opposed to Britain and reason that she has repeatedly counselled Bermudians not to take advantage of the British passports on offer to all Bermudians. The Dame's track record on such matters is far from perfect. Having for years shouted her views that black Bermudians should refuse to accept any honour offered to them by the British, whom she views much the same way Castro sees the Americans, Mrs. Browne-Evans then accepted her Damehood without a moment's hesitation. There are some who think her bonkers.

Florida resident Eduardo Waller extradited to Trinidad

October 4, 2005
A 69-year-old United States national has been extradited to Trinidad & Tobago to stand trial for allegedly conspiring to defraud the local government.Eduardo Hillman Waller was extradited on August 16, 2005 - 13 days after an extradition complaint was filed against him at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Letter from Bermuda: New way to combat speeding – Raise the Limit!

August 4, 2005
Politicians tend to be held in low regard all over the world. For many, the notion of public service seems to mean nothing more than the chance to get rich. Bermuda, where a tiny talent pool is spread so thin that our political scene is a travesty of governance, is no exception.Having only 60,000 inhabitants would be reason enough to limit the number of politicians, but we apply no limits. On the contrary, some of our political constituencies include as few as 700 voters, and none exceed 1,200. We are among the world's most over-represented people, and yet among the most poorly represented in terms of quality.

Bermuda Government seeks bank records in probe of alleged fraud by former employee

August 4, 2005
The Government of Bermuda is seeking account records from three banks, including the Bank of Bermuda, for a possible lawsuit against an ex-employee who is currently under indictment for fraud and others.Details are contained in an application for limited pre-action discovery that was filed at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, on July 29, 2005.

Letter from Bermuda: If it’s broke, don’t fix it!

July 5, 2005
If you run a company and your business model breaks, or is superceded, you need to find a new model quickly, or you'll need to find a new job. Bermuda's tourism model broke 24 years ago, but no one has made any effort to fix it. No one has been fired as a result. How very odd, you might think.

Letter from Bermuda: The irritating Walton Brown

June 5, 2005
Small places produce more than their fair share of characters, or maybe such people are merely more visible in smaller populations. Bermuda is a small place, and people here pursue lives that would go unremarked upon in larger environments.

UK continues search for evidence against Nigerian governor

June 5, 2005
Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged fraud and money laundering by Joseph Chibi Dariye - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from the United Kingdom - that was filed at federal court in the USA on April 15, 2005.

Trinidad & Tobago continues hunt for evidence of corruption regarding the Piarco Int’l Airport project

June 5, 2005
Article based on an application to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into alleged smuggling - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Trinidad & Tobago - that was filed at federal court in the USA on May 17, 2005. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Calmaquip Engineering Inc., Soares de Costa Contractors Inc., Birk Hillman Consultants Inc., National Insurance Properties Development Corp., Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, The Maritime Group of Companies, Maritime General Insurance Inc., Fidelity Financing and Leasing Ltd., Maritime Life (Caribbean) Ltd., Northern Construction Inc., and Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika AG.

Buenos Aires bans offshore companies

March 31, 2005
The city of Buenos Aires has just adopted two regulations - believed to be the first in the world - that seek to end the operation of anonymously owned shell companies in the capital district.The orders, issued in February and

Letter from Bermuda: Budget delivered with forked tongue

February 28, 2005
Only very rarely do Bermudians agree on anything. We prefer to divide our opinion on any issue along any available lines. Most often, the racial divide ensures that we have divergent views, but we are not opposed to splitting along economic, geographic or any other grounds, just so long as we do not share a consensus. Thus when the Bermuda Government recently took steps to solve a non-problem relating to real estate, by banning sales of property to non-Bermudians, and may have inadvertently burst the real estate bubble, half of us thought it an act of the greatest possible stupidity, and the other half applauded the fact that, as we drown, we will be taking a few foreigners with us.

Uproar in Grenada over nomination for Attorney General

February 28, 2005
The Eastern Caribbean's Judicial and Legal Services Commission has rejected the Government of Grenada's nomination of Hugh Wildman as Attorney General. The decision, announced on March 1, 2005, follows a concerted effort by Grenada's legal community to block the appointment of Wildman, whom they believe is unsuitable for such an important position.

Ashcroft, Prosser & Gov’t fight for Belize Telecommunications

February 28, 2005
The Government of Belize is being sued in the United States as part of a battle for control of the island's national telecommunications carrier that involves Michael Ashcroft, the former Treasurer of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. The lawsuit was filed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on February 16, 2005 - seven days after the Government seized control of Belize Telecommunications Ltd. from its majority shareholder, Belize Telecom Ltd., which is controlled by American businessman Jeffery Prosser, a 48-year-old resident of the U. S. Virgin Islands and Florida who owns multiple telephone, newspaper, banking and telecommunications assets in the Caribbean.

Peru: Noe Tsutomu Inafuku Higa

January 28, 2005
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal prosecution in Peru into Noe Tsutomu Inafuku Higa, AmericoAntonio Ibarcena Amico and others for alleged corruption.

Antigua & Barbuda: Lester Bird et al

January 14, 2005
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Antigua & Barbuda - for a criminal investigation into Lester Bryant Bird, Asot A. Michael, John E. St. Luce, Robin Yearwood, and Bruce Rappaport for suspected corruption and fraud.

Letter from Bermuda: And Justice for Some!

December 31, 2004
Bermuda abolished special juries late in 2004. On the face of it, that sounds reasonable enough, but in Bermuda, hardly anything is ever what it seems, especially when it seems reasonable. Special juries were composed of ordinary jurors, who had been pre-chosen for having attained a certain level of education. The notion behind the special jury was a more intelligent understanding of the term "jury of one's peers". The system was introduced in Bermuda in 1907 to allow those qualified "by reason of education, qualifications, occupation or experience" to act as specially empanelled juries for complex cases such as those involving technical knowledge or the examination of books, accounts or documents.

Peru seeks evidence from Miami banks as part of investigation into corruption by ex-President Fujimori’s Gov’t

December 31, 2004
Article based on an application to collect evidence into alleged corruption, narcotics trafficking, and money laundering - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Peru - that was filed at federal court in the USA on December 13, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Luis Alberto Cubas Portal, Karelia Montesinos Torres de Cubas, Estela Alicia Fatima Mariela Zimmermann Delgado de Montesinos, Orlando Montesinos Torres, Karla Cubas Montesinos, Luis Arturo Cubas Montesinos, Martin Cubas Montesinos, Luis Francisco Cubas Padilla, Maria Aurora Portal Marin, Julia Cubas Portal Vda. Quinde, Jorge Cubas Portal, Luis Esther Cubas Portal, Olga Cubas Portal, Carmen Cubas Portal, Elizabeth Cubas Portal, Rossana Cubas Portal, Eduardo Arellano Felix, Mid-State Bank & Trust Co., Atlantic Security Bank, Central Counties Bank, Republic National Bank of New York, and Florida Bank.

Peru: Luis Alberto Cubas Portal et al (Florida)

December 13, 2004
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Peru - for a criminal investigation into Karelia Montesinos Torres de Cubas, Estela Alicia Fatima Mariela Zimmermann Delgado de Montesinos, Orlando Montesinos Torres, Luis Alberto Cubas Portal, Karla Cubas Montesinos, Luis Arturo Cubas Montesinos, Martin Cubas Montesinos, Luis Francisco Cubas Padilla, Maria Aurora Portal Marin, Julia Cubas Portal Vda. Quinde, Jorge Cubas Portal, Luis Esther Cubas Portal, Olga Cubas Portal, Carmen Cubas Portal, Elizabeth Cubas Portal and Rossana Cubas Portal for suspected "money laundering in connection with proceeds obtained through drug trafficking".      

Former Antigua minister investigated for alleged money laundering

November 30, 2004
Antigua's former Finance Minister has taken legal action in an attempt to thwart a criminal investigation into whether he was involved in money laundering.Asot Michael and Bellwood Services SA filed a civil complaint against The Bank of Bermuda and Bermuda's Commissioner of Police at Bermuda Supreme Court on November 1, 2004.

Peru investigates talk show host Laura Bozzo for allegedly receiving bribes in return for favorable programs

November 30, 2004
Article based on an application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation into corruption - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Peru - that was filed at federal court in the USA on November 12, 2004. Individuals and businesses mentioned in the request for assistance include Laura Cecilia Bozzo Rotondo, Vladimiro Montesinos Torres, Francisco Rafael Merino Bartet, David Mejia Galindo, Miguel Angel Oswaldo Jose Rodriguez Sosa, Juan Irving Jaime Llamosas, Rene Dalmiro Jaime Llamosas, Gabriel Garcia Paik, Pablo Alfonso Quinteros Tello, Tulio Oscar Loza Bonifaz, Carlos Gonzalo Alvarez Loayza, Elsa Felicita Casas Sotomayor, Edgar Rodolfo Anamuro Rodrigo, Migdonio Bellota Viera, Jose Julio Dellepiane Massa, Ricardo Amiel Maza, and Alberto Fujimori.

Peru: Laura Cecilia Bozzo Rotondo

November 12, 2004
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Peru into Laura Cecilia Bozzo Rotondo for alleged embezzlement.

Peru: Marco Antonio Ibarcena Dwozak et al

November 12, 2004
Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence for a criminal investigation in Peru into Marco Antonio Ibarcena-Dwozak and Americo Antonio Ibarcena Amico for alleged corruption.