Drug gangs stop banks collapsing
jonty | 20.02.2009 19:34
Amazing honesty from UN drugs TSAR. He might have added that the drugs war keeps many others employed ( including undertakers ). He declined to say which banks.
UN Drug Warrior Credits International Drug Gangs
United Nations drug tsar Antonio Maria Costa said profits made by drug gangs have helped to prevent some banks from collapsing, this week, in an astonishing interview with Austrian magazine Profil.
The zero tolerance drug fanatic said the UN had evidence that some banks had been rescued by ‘interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade’ though refused to name names or even countries,
"In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Mr Costa reportedly said, “In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he added.
Civil liberties campaigner David Borden, executive director of Drug War Chronicle, chided Mr Costa for being ‘a little too honest’ and noted Costa’s credentials as a highly trained economist.
“Suppose the drug war magically started to work and the trade were wiped out, or people suddenly stopped using drugs. What would happen to the economy?” he asked.
“What would happen to countries like Afghanistan or Colombia or Mexico where a lot of the money being made is in drugs and a lot of people are dependent on that money? Or in some sectors of US society, for that matter? It would be a catastrophe,” he predicted.
British drugs expert Danny Kushlick from Transform also ridiculed Costa’s anti-drugs organisation and its relentless zero tolerance approach, this week, accusing the UN of practising ‘inhumane, unjust and irrational’ policies.
"The (UN) board is complicit in gifting the illegal drug market to terror groups, paramilitaries and organised criminals, contributing to the political and economic destabilisation of producer and transit countries and putting millions at risk of contracting blood-borne viruses,” he said.
“The INCB (International Narcotics Control Board) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime pose a greater threat to global well-being than drugs themselves,” he added. (Guardian)
http://m1e.net/c?79583927-k8CMQikfAT0EY%404003498-jmF.Pa3Icz/4M
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/570/costa_UNODC_drug_trade_banks
http://www.420magazine.com/forums/international-cannabis-news/87591-drug-money-helps-banks-through-crisis.html
http://www.profil.at/
jonty@skrufff.com
United Nations drug tsar Antonio Maria Costa said profits made by drug gangs have helped to prevent some banks from collapsing, this week, in an astonishing interview with Austrian magazine Profil.
The zero tolerance drug fanatic said the UN had evidence that some banks had been rescued by ‘interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade’ though refused to name names or even countries,
"In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Mr Costa reportedly said, “In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he added.
Civil liberties campaigner David Borden, executive director of Drug War Chronicle, chided Mr Costa for being ‘a little too honest’ and noted Costa’s credentials as a highly trained economist.
“Suppose the drug war magically started to work and the trade were wiped out, or people suddenly stopped using drugs. What would happen to the economy?” he asked.
“What would happen to countries like Afghanistan or Colombia or Mexico where a lot of the money being made is in drugs and a lot of people are dependent on that money? Or in some sectors of US society, for that matter? It would be a catastrophe,” he predicted.
British drugs expert Danny Kushlick from Transform also ridiculed Costa’s anti-drugs organisation and its relentless zero tolerance approach, this week, accusing the UN of practising ‘inhumane, unjust and irrational’ policies.
"The (UN) board is complicit in gifting the illegal drug market to terror groups, paramilitaries and organised criminals, contributing to the political and economic destabilisation of producer and transit countries and putting millions at risk of contracting blood-borne viruses,” he said.
“The INCB (International Narcotics Control Board) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime pose a greater threat to global well-being than drugs themselves,” he added. (Guardian)
http://m1e.net/c?79583927-k8CMQikfAT0EY%404003498-jmF.Pa3Icz/4M http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/570/costa_UNODC_drug_trade_banks http://www.420magazine.com/forums/international-cannabis-news/87591-drug-money-helps-banks-through-crisis.html http://www.profil.at/ jonty@skrufff.com
jonty
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Drugs are illegal for economic / control reasons.
21.02.2009 02:24
Mandy in Camden
Banking Cartels / Drug Cartels
22.02.2009 16:47
"The reasons for making drugs illegal [weed isn't a drug btw] is for economic / control reasons...for maintaining power over countries that produce them."
Plus disrupting the states that they pass through, most notably Iran, Pakistan, Mexico, and Columbia. Plus maintaining power over people who use them - the US penal system for example.
Many banks need their drugs-money fix to survive, and that money would disappear if the drugs, or at least the plants, were legalised.
"In 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into money transfers conducted by Wachovia bank. It is alleged that Wachovia transferred funds from drug deals in the United States to Mexican and Columbian money-exchange houses, or casas de cambio.
The following is a short list of banks which have resolved cases of money laundering, to avoid federal prosecution (Source: U.S. Justice Dept.):
2008, Sigue Corp. was alleged to be part of $24.7 million in suspicious funds in processed remittances. They forfeited $15 million and avoided prosecution.
2007, Union Bank of California was discovered to be laundering drug cartel profits through casas de cambio. The bank forfeited $21.6 million and avoided prosecution.
2007, American Express International Bank failed to report $55 million passing through the accounts of known drug traffickers. They paid $65 million in fines and avoided prosecution.
2006, Bank Atlantic paid a $10 million fine to avoid prosecution, when an undercover investigation discovered that drug profits were being laundered through one of their branch locations.
As part of their deferred prosecution, the banks agreed to reform their practices as well as submit to federal oversight.
Of course, this practice involves very large banks and very large amounts of money.
After an investigation of Union Bank of California, the Justice Department claimed that the bank failed "to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program."
In 1998, the brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas, Raul Salinas was caught transferring hundreds of millions of dollars out of Mexico to Citibank in New York. Citibank was then sending the money to banks in Switzerland."
Mule