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BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 24, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Pacific Rim conference highlights fight
against dirty money
ABC online - UNHCR
says Burma and Indonesia will provide flood of refugees
Bkk Post - Thai-built golf drive sparks official
alarm
Tuesday, October 24 6:26 PM SGT
Pacific Rim conference highlights fight against dirty money VANCOUVER, Canada, Oct 24 (AFP)
- Asia's golden triangle nations are failing to tackle money laundering even as
the problem reaches epic proportions worldwide and overwhelms police resources
in some countries, experts told a conference here.
"All money laundering is a reflection of the amount of crime in a society,"
Superintendent Gareth Williams, head of the joint financial intelligence unit
with the Hong Kong police force, told a money laundering conference here.
"It is only recently that we have become proficient in confiscating the
money," he added.
More than 700 law enforcement, government, legal and financial industry
representatives from 50 different countries are attending the four-day Pacific
Rim Money Laundering and Financial Crime Conference that began here
Monday.
Williams, a keynote speaker at the conference, said countries were slowly
beginning to implement countermeasures to combat drug trafficking and financial
crimes, the chief sources of illicit proceeds.
Financial kingpins in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are leading the fight
against dirty money, he said.
Hong Kong made money laundering illegal 11 years ago. By contrast Thailand
passed its first anti-money laundering laws just last year.
"It is a brand new issue for almost every country," said Williams. "Most
countries still don't have a good reporting system."
Williams named Thailand as one of four Asian countries that have been
blacklisted as money-laundering havens by the Hong Kong police force.
An estimated 20 per cent of Thailand's gross domestic product comes from
illicit money connected to the prostitution and drug trade, experts said.
There is an estimated one trillion US dollars laundered from the illicit
drug trade annually.
Williams also named Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos as three other nations which
have failed to attack the problem and comply with international
regulations.
All four nations are part of the Golden Triangle which accounts for the
majority of heroin produced in the region before it is shipped off to Australia
and North America.
The former Portuguese colony of Macau is not on the force's blacklist but
Williams said they warn criminal investigators and people in the banking sector
about money that comes from Macau's casinos, which have been a magnet for secret
triad societies or Asian criminal gangs.
"One of the best ways for criminals to launder money is through casinos,"
said Williams.
He said he had been surprised to learn recently that the four Golden
Triangle countries had been left off the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF)
money laundering list of 15 countries and territories considered to be worst
offenders.
Asked why they were not on the list he said: "It must have something to do
with openness of their economies."
The only Asian country that made the FATF list was the Philippines and
Williams said it was not even included on Hong Kong's blacklist.
The FATF list was compiled by representatives of industrialized nations,
including the United States, France, Britain, Australia and Canada.
Despite the apparent flaws, Williams said the FATF list still carried
clout.
"The last thing countries want is to get on this (FATF) list," he
said.
The countries on the FATF list are: Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands,
Dominica, Israel, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Panama,
Philippines, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the
Grenadines.
ABC online - Oct 24,
2000.
UNHCR says Burma and Indonesia will provide flood of refugees The retiring head of the United Nations Commission for Refugees says Burma
and Indonesia will pose the next great challenges for her organisation.
Sadako Ogata, who retires at the end of the year, says she's concerned that
the violence in Aceh and West Papua in Indonesia could lead to major refugee
problems.
Mrs Ogata has just returned from Rangoon, where she asked the military
government to allow a UNHCR presence in the east of the country on the Thai
border.
She says there must be change in Burma before 100-thousand Burmese
sheltering in Thailand can return home.
Bangkok Post - Oct 24,
2000.
THREE-PAGODA PASS Thai-built golf drive sparks official alarm Site near checkpoint may include casino Preecha Srisathan A golf course just across the border in Burma, supposedly built by Thai
investors with the co-operation of Burmese soldiers, is causing concern among
Thai officials.
The nine-hole course is on 15 rai in a demilitarised zone across the
Three-Pagoda Pass, Sangkhlaburi district.
Guest houses have been built on the land, part of which is said to have
been prepared for construction of a casino.
A source in the Zone 4 Thai-Burmese Military Co-ordination Unit, part of
the 9th Infantry Division, said the golf course was developed about a year
ago.
The unit had sent several protest letters to the Burmese government and
local military units but received no response, the source said.
The course has been used three or four times already by Burmese military
officers and businessmen, the source said.
Lt-Col Maung Maung, head of the 343rd Battalion at Phayathongsu camp, in
Burma's Pa-an town, opposite the Three-Pagoda Pass, said the golf course was
built by Thai businessmen but he did not know if the premises would include a
casino.
He declined to name the Thai investors.
Any Thais wishing to use the facilities could contact him directly, he
said.
Vicharn Chariyavejwatana, the Sangkhlaburi district chief, said he had
protested to Burmese authorities but received no reply so far.
The problem was beyond his authority and should be handled at a provincial
or national level, he said.
Voravut Pongvithayapanu, former president of the Kanchanaburi Chamber of
Commerce, said if a casino opened in that area the problems of drugs,
prostitution, illegal labour and other crimes would follow.
But he added it might also help boost Kanchanaburi's tourism with
increasing investment in hotels and resorts.
Kachadpai Burusapatana, the National Security Council chief, said
authorities had no power to stop Thai businessmen from investing in casinos in
neighbouring countries.
"What we can do is to take measures which make it more difficult for Thais
to cross the border to gamble.
"A temporary border point can be opened on the condition it must not lead
to the opening of a casino.
"If a casino is opened as a result, the temporary crossing will be closed,"
the NSC chief said.
He said the Interior Ministry was taking stricter measures to discourage
Thais from visiting casinos across the border.
Only local people were allowed to use temporary border crossings and a
passport was required to go through permanent border checkpoints, he said. |