How Unholy
Business Thrives in the Holy Land
The Independent [Great Britain], June 23, 2000
"Money laundering in Israel has reached colossal proportions in the
last few years, fuelled by the rise of Russian organised-crime since the
collapse of the Soviet Union, liberal banking laws and bank secrecy policies.
Billions of illegally acquired dollars from Russia and the former Soviet
republics, South America, Africa and Europe have passed through Israel in
the last few years, securing its status as one of the world's leading money
laundries. Israel's police believe Russian gangsters are taking advantage
of the money-transfer laws aimed at attracting Jewish people to the country,
to deposit profits and launder funds. Their operations include narcotics
and prostitution rackets, bribes and cream-offs from government funds and
loans. But they also involve the winnings from a massive asset-stripping
exercise that began under the former president Mikhail Gorbachev and has
been underway since, turning Russia into a kleptocracy in which corruption
runs from the top to the bottom of the society. They are helped by the 1
million former Soviet citizens living in Israel who have arrived since 1991
... Established as a safe-haven for the Jews, the country has not asked
many questions about their riches." |
