Thursday, June 29, 2017

Vic Police Chief Graham Ashton appears to have ignored crucial evidence of Hambali, Abu Bakar Bashir's network of supporters

by Ganesh Sahathevan 

These facts concerning Hambali, the Bali bombers, and Jemaah Islamiah have long been a matter of public record.,Victoria  Chief Of Police Graham Ashton was   chief Australian Federal Police investigator of the Bali bombings and ought to know these facts by heart (we do). The evidence of a strong level of passive support,at the grassroots and above is evident:

JI Training in Malaysia

The JI has been conducting training camps in Malaysia since 1990. Up to 1994, the training was focused mainly on maintaining physical fitness like jogging and trekking. From 1995, however, the training camps held in Gunung Pulai and Kulai began to also teach "military" skills (without firearms training). For instance, JI members were taught to make Molotov cocktails, learn knife-throwing skills, topography, jungle survival skills and trekking. In 1997, additional modules like guerrilla warfare, infiltration and ambush were included. Around 2000, reconnaissance and observation courses were conducted in Kota Tinggi; these classes were dubbed "urban warfare". The JI even conducted "Recall and Operation exercises" to ensure that members were operationally ready. 14 (which includes the 3 who went to Afghanistan) of the 21 arrestees participated in such training camps in Malaysia.



According to Malaysian officials, the so-called school of terror, Luqmanul Hakiem school, was established more than a decade (before 2002, that is before 1992 by Abu Bakar Bashir and Hambali.2

Malaysian authorities say Bashir, Hambali, Samudra and Mukhlas had used the Luqmanul Hakiem school in Ulu Tiram, in the southern state of Johor, since 1993.3

According to report in a Government-owned and controlled newspaper in Singapore, Abdullah Sungkar, was also among the founders of the Luqmanul Hakiem school. Mukhlas, brother of the Bali bomber Amrozi (who helped out at the school), helped set it up. Shahril Hat, an ex-engineer arrested by the Malaysian police, was the principal, while his assistant was Noor Din Mohd Top, a fugitive member of the Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM).Three other Bali bombing suspects , Idris, Imam Samudra and Dulmatin - were said to have met and studied at the same school in the early 1990s.A course instructor there was bomb-maker/trainer, Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi - now in custody in the Philippines4.

Nowhere in official AFP and other Australian Government reports have the above AND the their  implications and consequences for the future of Australian national  security been  discussed. It must be assumed that Ashton and others have either suppressed if not are totally ignorant of the facts and/or the issues they raise. 
That Ashton has ignored all this  must break the hearts of those whose lives have been lost or otherwise affected by both Bali bombings.It also discloses an appalling lack of skill and knowledge, evidence most recently in the matter of Zulfikar Shariif.Of course, it is also likely that Ashton is more interested in preserving his "diversity" credentials.



Endnotes
1 Home Affairs Singapore-JI White Paper,located at http://www2.mha.gov.sg/mha/detailed.jsp?artid=550&type=4&root=0&parent=0&cat=0&mode=arc.See also http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/speeches/view-html?filename=2002091903.htm
2Mark Baker,” Revealed: school that bred the Bali bombers” The Age(Melbourne) November 22,2002 .Located at http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/11/21/1037697807092.html
3 JASBANT SINGH, Associated Press ; Bali Suspects Used Malaysia As Base, 4 December 2002

4 Melvin Singh, “ TERRORIST SCHOOL IN JOHOR “;The New Paper - 01 Dec 2002,
located at: http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,8982-1038758340,00.html

Hadi Awang's warning of 1MDB type problems requires a MACC investigation into the EPF-OSK Melbourne deal

by Ganesh Sahathevan


As previously reported on this blog:

And of course, there are ,as has also been previously reported:





Wednesday, April 12, 2017

OSK's fast profit of AUD 40m will not turn into a long term gain for EPF:Sharil is not providing any guidance on potential returns from its Melbourne investment,instead promises all will be well......

by Ganesh Sahathevan





Shahril: ‘We have a fair number of assets in Australia.’
Shahril: ‘We have a fair number of assets in Australia.’




Shahril of the EPF was quoted by The Star, justifying its recent investment in Melbourne:


The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is optimistic that its latest venture into the Australian property market will yield long-term returns, despite speculations (sic) that the housing sector is headed for a glut. 
EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said the project would span over 15 years.
“Australia is a market that we’re comfortable with and we’ve been there for a while already,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the IFN Forum Asia 2017, yesterday.
“For a fund like ourselves, given the long-term liabilities that we manage, the key focus for us over the past few years is to build a solid infrastructure and property assets, and in the property space we’ve very much focused on long-term assets with 10 to 20 years of yield.”


These are very nice sentiments, but EPF has already handed Ong Leong Huat and family a profit of about AUD 40 Million (not bad for about 3 years work) , As previously reported on this blog:


OSK buys Melbourne property for AUD 145 Million, promises gardens in the sky,and gets EPF to pay AUD 154 Million for 49% in a market that is expected to collapse


EPF will finance OSK's Melbourne development with AUD 175 Million (RM 525 Million) in borrowed money.after providing Ong Leong Huat & family AUD 154 million and a AUD 38.2 Million upfront profit

That AUD 175 Million loan that the EPF has so generously taken out in favour of Ong Leong Huat and family , helping them finance the project which they still control (they own 51%) will lead to an immediate CASH outflow at the EPF in interest payments.


The income stream, can only be in dividends, which the 51% decides, and only if there is a profit. Keep in mind that those in charge of a project can get money out of it so many, many , may different ways ; management fees are just the start. And remember, the Ong's have already made AUD 40 million, or about RM 120 Million.

This statement is meant to fool contributors, and seems not very likely in the case of this project:
“For a fund like ourselves, given the long-term liabilities that we manage, the key focus for us over the past few years is to build a solid infrastructure and property assets, and in the property space we’ve very much focused on long-term assets with 10 to 20 years of yield.”


END 

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Air Asia X Perth incident complicated by UK Serious Fraud Office investigation into Rolls Royce that implicated Tony Fernandes,and alluded to cash flow problems at AAX

by Ganesh Sahathevan




The Incident 

No automatic alt text available.


AirAsia X has released few details of the incident which The West Australian understands involved the failure of a fan blade in the No.1 engine.
It destroyed hydraulic components and an oil pump before being ingested by the engine.
........ it was “a pretty massive failure” and there would be only two reasons for it: a manufacturing flaw or poor quality inspection during maintenance.

The ATSB is liaising with engine maker Rolls-Royce about the failure and said it expected to produce a report in “a couple of months” after interviewing personnel and gathering additional information.



The Cash Flow Problem As Described By The SFO

333. In communicating this proposal to the AAX senior employee the RR employee pursued otherissues of prompt payment of debts by AAX. The AAX senior employee reacted strongly, both to the structure of the altered proposal on the jet, and on the separate issue of debt repayments, commenting in an email to several RR employees: “I will not meet with liars next week” and requesting the RR employee's removal from the account.


The Crime 

COUNT 12 - MALAYSIA CIVIL Failure to Prevent Bribery between 1 July 2011 and 30 November 2013 In Summary 

314. RR failed to prevent its employees from providing an Air Asia Group (“AAG”) executive (“the AAG executive”) with credits worth US $3.2 million to be used to pay for the maintenance of   
a private jet despite those employees believing that, in consequence, the AAG executive intended to perform a relevant function improperly. This financial advantage was given at the request of the AAG executive, in return for his showing favour towards RR in the purchase of products and services provided by RR and its subsidiaries, including TCA services to be supplied to Air Asia X (“AAX”), a subsidiary of AAG

Tony Frenandes has not denied that the AAG executive is he.His defence is that it was all above board.

END 

Reference
AirAsia Group head of communications Audrey Progastama Petriny, in a statement to Malaysiakini, said AirAsia and AirAsia X board of directors and management were kept informed at all times of the transactions relating to the jet.

Australia's USD 50 billion DCNS deal must surely be in the cross-hairs of French prosecutors -Minister in charge of L'Affaire Adelaide considered a wholly dishonest character

by Ganesh Sahathevan



Building all 12 boats in Adelaide shores up the government's political prospects in Christopher Pyne's home state of ...
Building all 12 boats in Adelaide shores up the government's political prospects in Christopher Pyne's home state of South Australia. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen


Local politics has shone a spotlight on the minister in charge of Australia's USD 50 billion DCNS submarine contract Christopher Pyne (pictured above): 




Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi isn't surprised to hear Christopher Pyne gloating how the Left now rules the Liberals and he always voted for Malcolm Turnbull (even though Tony Abbott made him a senior minister): 
Character is everything in politics and I’ve known Pyne longer than anyone in that parliament and he is not a person of good character. He is the most untrustworthy person I’ve ever met in this business.
Peta Credlin:



Peta Credlin says the most reprehensible comments from @cpyne was how he 'proudly proclaimed his disloyalty'. MORE http://bit.ly/2u4D5a6 
I think the most reprehensible of those comments from Christopher Pyne was that at every single ballot he proudly proclaimed his disloyalty. I can’t believe he is an idiot enough to say that in a room full of 150 plus people. But I also can’t believe he is proud to be that disloyal. Proud of his disloyalty. I can’t fathom that.
John Howard was right. Christopher Pyne was never to be trusted, he never put him in the cabinet and look what’s happened...


The above adds to the already growing issues of propriety surrounding the award of the contract, published previously on this blog, as well as the revelation last week that DCNS ,if not the Australian Government l misled Australian taxpayers about the project's potential to create jobs in Australia.
It is hard to see why this DCNS contract would not be the subject of investigation by French prosecutors, who are already investigating DCNS submarine contracts in Pakistan, India,Brazil and Malaysia.
END 



Thursday, April 20, 2017


DCNS's l'affaire Adelaide takes shape: A horse, Defence Minister Marise Payne,and Lockheed Martin

by Ganesh Sahathevan


Image result for marise payne dcns
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (right) and Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne 

This writer has previously noted that DCNS's AUD 50 Billion submarine contract entered into with the Government of Australia seems not terribly different from other scandals the company has gotten into, including the the so-called l'affaire Karachi.

Now it seems the Defence Minister Marise Payne's love of race horses may provide some further clues.The Australian newspaper reported this morning :

Defence Minister Marise Payne co-owns a racehorse with a lobbyist whose company represents firms seeking lucrative Australian military contracts, including the Future Frigate project worth up to $35 billion.
Senator Payne is a co-owner of Tarakona, a largely unsuccessful four-year-old gelding, with a group that includes Matt Hingerty, managing director and chief executive of lobbying firm Barton Deakin.

Barton Deakin is recorded on the federal government lobbyist register as representing defence contractors, including Lockheed Martin Overseas Group, builder of the F-35 Strike Fighter; and Fincantieri SpA, the Italian shipbuilding company.


Not reported is the fact that Lockheed Martin Corp " won a bid to design and build the combat system " for the DCNS Barracuda submarines".

That contract is far ranging ,According to a DefenseNews report published on 18 April 2017:


Lockheed Martin will report this summer results of studies for potential suppliers of sonar and other critical systems for Australia’s planned fleet of 12 new attack submarines, said Mike Oliver, program director for the future submarine combat system.


“Lockheed Martin has been conducting trade studies in a number of key areas of the submarine’s design,” he told Defense News. “We are examining all options and will deliver the results of those trade studies in June to the customer.”

Sonar is among the key systems, the company’s program team said.
“The choice of sonar systems and arrays is in the hands of Lockheed Martin,” Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt, general manager at DCNS, told Defense News..


Canberra in September selected Lockheed as combat system integrator, partnering with DCNS, which will design, build and service a fleet of 12 ocean-going diesel-electric boats. The program is worth AUS$50 billion ($38.1 billion) over some 35 years.

A survey of sonar and other systems marks a first step in a selection process that Thales hopes to win through its Australian subsidiary.


The French electronics company expects to secure more than €1 billion of deals, with €100 million per boat based on sonar systems, electronic warfare and periscopes. A towed sonar array is part of the kit.

END








Marise Payne co-owns horse with lobbyist

RORY CALLINAN The Australian
12:00AM April 20, 2017
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Defence Minister Marise Payne co-owns a racehorse with a lobbyist whose company represents firms seeking lucrative Australian military contracts, including the Future Frigate project worth up to $35 billion.

Senator Payne is a co-owner of Tarakona, a largely unsuccessful four-year-old gelding, with a group that includes Matt Hingerty, managing director and chief executive of lobbying firm Barton Deakin.

Barton Deakin is recorded on the federal government lobbyist register as representing defence contractors, including Lockheed Martin Overseas Group, builder of the F-35 Strike Fighter; and Fincantieri SpA, the Italian shipbuilding company.

Lockheed Martin has the contract to provide Australia’s strike fighters at a cost of up to $17 billion. Fincantieri is bidding for the Future Frigates, a project described as the largest of its type in the world and due to start in 2020.

Senator Payne this morning denied there is a conflict of interest involved in her co-ownership of a racehorse and her interests had been appropriately disclosed.

“There is certainly no conflict of interest there,” she told ABC.

“My interest in horse racing is a matter of clear public record, whether it’s through the parliamentary declaration process or through the normal processes associated with horse racing.

“I think that the story is one which The Australian has chosen to run, but I’m focused on my job in Japan and dealing with the regional security matters which are so important to Australia and so important to our allies and our partners.”

Senator Payne and Malcolm Turnbull last year announced that Fincantieri, BAE and Navantia had been short-listed for the project. The Defence Department awarded the three shipbuilding companies about $12 million each to participate in the process.

Senator Payne met Italian ­Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti in Australia in February during which she acknowledged “participation by Italy’s Fincantieri in Australia’s Future Frigate program”.

Senator Payne also used her official twitter account to tweet a picture and a positive comment about the February 20 meeting. Mr Hingerty then used his ­account to “like” the tweet.

Mr Hingerty ­yesterday ­confirmed his co-ownership of Tarakona but denied the connection had enabled him extra access to the minister or that he had ever discussed defence contracts with Senator Payne.

“Marise and I are 30-year friends and we share a common interest with racehorses and I’ve always looked for an opportunity to race a horse,’’ he said.

Mr Hingerty said he was not involved in Defence matters for Barton Deakin. “That’s my colleague, John Griffin, and he’s not involved in the racehorse,’’ Mr Hingerty said.

Efforts to contact Mr Griffin yesterday were unsuccessful.

When asked about liking Ms Payne’s tweet about the meeting with the Italian Defence Minister, Mr Hingerty said: “We are friends.”

Asked who the other 11 owners of the horse were, Mr Hingerty said they were friends and relations of Senator Payne and her partner, NSW Tourism Minister Stuart Ayres.

Mr Hingerty said some were friends of his. Two of the group appear to be relatives of Mr Ayres.

Senator Payne has listed her share in Tarakona on her register of interests. Racing records also list a syndicate called Padinga as one of the owners.

A spokesman for Ms Payne said there was no conflict of interest from the horse ownership.

He said the minister had not discussed any Defence contracts with Mr Hingerty.

Mr Hingerty has previously tweeted about defence matters including one example on July 22 last year in which he said he was “very privileged to be briefed by the former vice chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on US APAC ­policy”.

Yesterday he said the briefing occurred only as a result of the annual Amcham program and that it was “interesting but not relevant to any work I personally do”.

Mr Hingerty has also retweeted Senator Payne’s tweets about Defence matters, including one on February 17 in which she tweeted that it had been an ­honour to lay wreaths at Menin Gate, Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot cemetery for the Australians that fought and died during World War I.

Tarakona, which appears to be named after a dragon in Maori language, has not had any wins from nine starts, collecting prize money of $3680, according to racing websites.

Although Senator Payne ­declared the racehorse in her statement of interests published in September, she is not listed with the parliamentary website as having filed any other declarations since then.

Barton Deakin’s website says it can help clients if they are “a company needing to frame your investment project to maximum effect with the government”.

“Barton Deakin doesn’t just open doors — it helps you understand what is going on behind them, how to work your company most ­effectively with the Coalition in government or opposition and, most importantly how to achieve your government corporate strategy goals,’’ the website’s blurb says.

Rachel Baxendale contributed to this report

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Saturday, June 24, 2017

PAS leader Ustaz Hadi Awang hints at 1MDB scale problems at Tabung Haji , EPF

by Ganesh Sahathevan



Reproduced without comment (for the time being):

“We shouldn’t repeat history by inviting foreign quarters to solve our problems such as the BMF scandal, Perwaja, Tabung Haji, EPF and 1MDB.”










Hadi: Islam rejects ‘foreign intervention’ to solve internal problems


Saturday June 24, 2017
11:00 AM GMT+8
 
Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang Aziz stressed that internal issues in the country must be heard by our own courts.— Picture by Yusof Mat Isa


















Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang Aziz stressed that internal issues in the country must be heard by our own courts.— Picture by Yusof Mat Isa


KUALA LUMPUR, June 24 — PAS President Datuk Seri Abdul

Hadi Awang has urged all quarters to reject foreign powers from

meddling in the nation’s affairs, as it is forbidden by Islam.
“The Quran forbids Muslims from trusting other quarters in solving their internal problems.
“Whether right or wrong, a problem must be resolved internally with patience,” he said in an open letter posted on his official Facebook page.
Hadi said it was foreign intervention by the colonisers that led to the fall of the Islamic government in Melaka.
“After that, the whole Indonesian region was colonised and divided, which led to the downfall of Islam.
“We shouldn’t repeat history by inviting foreign quarters to solve our problems such as the BMF scandal, Perwaja, Tabung Haji, EPF and 1MDB.”
Hadi also said that it was the intervention of foreign powers which led the downfall of Islam in Spain, after being around for eight centuries.
“The lights of Islam have been turned off in Spain until today.”
Hadi stressed that internal issues in the country must be heard by our own courts.
“As cruel and as stupid as we can be, let us bear this ourselves and at the end of the day, we will be blessed with peace.
“There will always be foreign quarters who are looking for opportunities around. Enough, we have been colonised for several centuries and its effects hasn’t fully recovered.”
Last Thursday, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced its latest civil filing that sought to seize US$540 million (RM2.31 billion) in assets obtained by funds allegedly stolen from 1MDB.
The latest civil forfeiture complaints from the lawsuit launched last July alleged that more than US$4.5 billion had been misappropriated from the Malaysian state investment firm from 2009 through 2015.
1MDB has since responded saying that the allegations were not backed with proof.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) subsequently said that it will leave the matter with the police to handle.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali had said that no wrongdoing or misappropriation was found in 1MDB after the Malaysian firm was probed by various agencies, such as the MACC, the Auditor-General and the bi-partisan Public Accounts Committee.

Friday, June 23, 2017

1MDB: US can isolate Najib,other ministers and revoke US visas for family,friends and associates

by Ganesh Sahathevan




Malaysia Left Out - Singapore & Thailand Invited To White House

When you cry conspiracy often enough, the reality of what hits you in return 
will be nightmarish.

Now that the PM Najib and almost all of the Cabinet and UMNO/BN have declared war of the US Government,  for daring to return to the people of Malaysia money stolen from 1MDB, it would be useful to see what else the US Government can do.
Given that the US Government has effectively declared the current PM and his ministers kleptocrats, the range of options under US law include denying and revoking visas for entry into the US for Najib, his loyal ministers, and their associates, and seeking international cooperation for the recovery of the stolen money, effectively isolating the Najib Administration.
END

References






Strategies To Fight Kleptocracy

David M. Luna, Director for Anti-Crime Programs Division, INLWashington, DC
September 26, 2007
The United States seeks to engage and cooperate with committed partners in the global fight against corruption. The strategies outlined in the following article provide an overview of U.S. Government and international efforts to combat corruption, in particular high-level corruption (kleptocracy), international cooperation on the recovery the proceeds of crime, preventive areas to check the misuse of power and public funds, and innovative public-private partnerships to mobilize attention and target corruption at all levels of society. 
The Adverse Impact of Corruption to the Global Community 
The United States Government places a high priority on combating global corruption and views it as a threat to development and prosperity of all nations. Corruption jeopardizes the integrity of world markets, the stability of political systems, and the security of the international community. It impedes efforts to promote freedom and democracy, stymies economic growth and foreign investment, and saps energies from innovation, competitiveness, and entrepreneurial and technological advancement strategies. 
It also facilitates transnational crime and terrorism, and casts shadows of lawlessness that erode public trust and the rule of law. 
Corruption robs nations of their future and people of their dreams by misappropriating public investment away from development areas that need it most, such as public sector modernization, infrastructure and social development including quality access to water, sanitation, education, healthcare, and housing. 
Earlier this month, the World Bank and United Nations in a press release estimated that the cross-border flow of global illicit proceeds related to corruption, criminal activities, and tax evasion is between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion per year. This is an enormous loss of economic potential and social development investment. 
High-level corruption by senior officials, or kleptocracy, is a grave and corrosive abuse of power and represents the most invidious type of public corruption. 
As President George W. Bush underscored in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2007, the U.S. and other nations are transforming the way we fight poverty, curb corruption, and provide aid. The United States is committed to developing strong partnerships, based on shared values that underpin good governance principles, which will encourage honest, responsible government and reward those that govern justly, invest in their people, and foster economic openness and freedom. 
Corruption is not just an American problem nor a European or an Asian one. It is not a problem that is unique to any one region or country. It is a global challenge. 
Political Will: U.S. Efforts to Prevent and Combat Domestic Corruption 
No one is above the law: The U.S. takes the issue of fighting corruption seriously as demonstrated by the strong actions of our law enforcement community over the past several years to prosecute public corruption scandals in the United States. 
Over the five-year period from 2001 to 2005, the most recent period for which we have data, the Justice Department charged over 5,749 individuals with public corruption offenses nationwide and obtained an 85% conviction rate. 
In addition to prosecution, the United States also devotes substantial resources to the prevention and detection of corruption. By focusing attention and resources on programs promoting transparency and accountability, we can make it more difficult for corrupt practices to occur and easier to detect. 
Particularly important aspects of prevention include publicly available personal financial reporting by senior federal officials including all elected officials, all judges and all senior political and career appointees. The requirements include substantial financial and fiduciary information for the official and financial information for the official's spouse and dependent children. 
Even prior to government service, an individual who is being considered for appointment by the President to a position in the executive branch is asked to file a financial report as a part of an initial screening process. The report is reviewed for purposes of conflicts of interest by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and the agency in which the individual would serve. 
If the review detects potential conflicts, the individual is asked to enter into a written agreement outlining the steps he or she must take to avoid these conflicts. Those steps may include selling certain assets, resigning from outside positions, agreeing to recuse or, possibly entering into a blind trust. 
Complementing these prevention programs are significant enforceable procedural systems promoting consistency and transparency: These include general requirements for standardized and public administrative processes and licenses; public legislative processes that follow standardized rules; public judicial proceedings that follow standardized procedures; public budgeting processes and internal financial controls; a large merit-based civil service; and rights for public access to information regarding most government activities. In addition, the activities of the federal government are conducted under the watchful eye of an active and free press.
Similar to the critical role of civil society watchdogs, a free media can be an important tool against corruption by shining the light on criminality and abuses of power. 
U.S. Efforts to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy

In addition to preventing, investigating, and prosecuting corruption at home, we are working to stem corruption around the world. Promoting good governance and fighting corruption are important foreign policy priorities for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. 
As noted earlier, the United States, through the Group of Eight (G8) and other multilateral fora, is committed to working with dedicated partners to strengthen the political will and resolve to establish transparent and accountable governance, empower citizens to demand efficient use of state resources and the fair use of regulatory and judicial powers, prosecute high-level public corruption, deny safe haven to corrupt officials, those who corrupt them, and their illicitly-acquired assets, and ensure responsible repatriation and use of the ill-gotten funds. 
In August 2006, President Bush unveiled the U.S. National Strategy to Internationalize Efforts Against Kleptocracy.
This strategy further elevated the global discussion on the fight against corruption by putting kleptocrats on notice, focusing attention to high-level, large-scale corruption by public officials, increasing the public-private partnership dialogue on accountability on both the demand and supply side of the issue, and ushering new areas for targeting the proceeds of grand corruption through international cooperation to deny safe haven and asset recovery. 
In order to implement its strategic objectives to combat kleptocracy, the United States is:
  1. launching a coalition of committed partners to trace and recover the proceeds of grand corruption; 
  2. vigorously prosecuting foreign corruption offenses and forfeit illicitly acquired assets; 
  3. denying physical safe haven to corrupt individuals; 
  4. strengthening multilateral action against the bribery of kleptocrats; 
  5. facilitating the effective disposition and administration of recovered assets for the benefit of the citizens of countries victimized by grand corruption; and 
  6. targeting enhanced capacity to fight high-level corruption
Another key tool in our strategies to deny safe havens to kleptocrats is Presidential Proclamation 7750, issued on January 12, 2004, that allows the United States to deny or revoke visas to individuals involved in public corruption that has serious adverse effects on specific U.S. interests, including: (1) the international economic activity of U.S. businesses, (2) U.S. foreign assistance goals, (3) the security of the United States against transnational crime and terrorism, or (4) the stability of democratic nations and institutions.
The United States is engaged internationally to protect the financial system from abuse by those who would launder the proceeds of foreign official corruption and to identify, trace, freeze, recover, and repatriate such illicitly acquired assets.
We continue to take and promote measures to press our international partners to deny entry to corrupt foreign officials; increase transparency in budgeting, concession-letting, and procurement; improve governance and accountability; investigate and prosecute their nationals and companies that bribe or promise to bribe foreign public and political party officials; and strengthen anti-bribery and accountability disciplines on export credits and official development assistance.
For example, we are also aggressively investigating those U.S. companies and individuals engaged in bribing and otherwise corrupting foreign government officials. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) makes it a serious federal crime to bribe foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Enforcing the FCPA is a major priority for the United States.
The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the OECD Working Group on Bribery provide important avenues for the United States to cooperate with counterparts outside the US to combat bribery in international business transactions.
Combating money laundering and the web of corruption related to it is also a top priority as is the corruption-crime nexus.
Today we also find ourselves in a rapidly changing world - we face numerous threats that undermine our common stability and security. In effectively combating corruption, we must also confront related illicit activities such as financial crimes. Kleptocrats, criminals and other illicit actors launder the fruits of their crimes through a variety of ways.
Similarly, weak financial measures and lack of transparency demonstrated by certain kleptocratic regimes may provide an opportunity for terrorists to use vulnerable points in the global financial system to move funds to finance their terrorist activities.
The United States is committed to work with other international partners to identify, interdict, block, and cut off the financial pipelines to all corrupt individuals, criminal organizations, and illicit networks through the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and other diplomatic and enforcement avenues.
Similarly, we support the global initiative launched on September 17, 2007, by the World Bank and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders, ensure that looted assets are returned to the rightful owners, help communities to invest them in effective development programs, and to combat safe havens internationally.
International Cooperation: Strengthening the Implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption

The UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) also offers a good tool and opportunity to strengthen international cooperation. The Convention is the most ambitious international anti-corruption effort to date.
It includes fundamental principles that are crucial in the fight against corruption. Those principles include requiring or recommending criminalization of certain corrupt behavior, and requiring international cooperation on anti-corruption efforts. It also calls for governance improvements that will help prevent corrupt acts from occurring.
Additionally, the Convention establishes the first ever comprehensive framework for recovery of illicit assets sent or taken abroad by corrupt officials. Many countries saw the problem of corrupt officials acquiring assets illicitly and hiding those assets in foreign safe havens as the core problem that the Convention should address.
Implementation is now underway following a successful first meeting of the Conference of States Parties in the Dead Sea, Jordan in December 2006.
Heading to the second Conference of States Parties to be held in Bali, Indonesia in January 2008, the U.S. looks forward to working with the States Parties in the context of the three working groups created by the Conference: technical assistance, asset recovery and review mechanism working groups.
We believe that each one of these groups is capable of developing a practical, concrete plan for moving the Convention forward that balances the need to respect the sovereignty of States Parties with the need to make the Convention a meaningful and relevant instrument.
U.S. Foreign Assistance and Anticorruption Capacity Building 
The U.S. helps other governments to prevent corruption and increase transparency, improve good governance, combat money laundering, and prosecute transnational crime by providing technical assistance and training, and strengthening criminal justice systems and capacities of law enforcement agencies. Such assistance helps to enhance the ability of foreign governments to enhance public administration and to address their own crime challenges before these threats extend across international borders.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) includes anticorruption efforts a central part of its foreign assistance strategy and takes a broad approach to assisting partner countries to strengthen their systems to resist corruption. USAID's anticorruption programs are designed to help reduce opportunities and incentives for corruption; support stronger and more independent judiciaries, legislatures, and oversight bodies; and promote independent media, civil society, and public education.
The State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) Affairs helps support capacity-building and training for police, investigators, prosecutors, judges, ethics offices, auditors, inspectors general, and other oversight, regulatory and law enforcement systems at the national and local levels of government. INL's International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEAs) around the world also help to provide targeted training on various anticrime areas.
INL also helps to support the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training which provides assistance to strengthen criminal justice institutions in other nations and enhancing the administration of justice abroad and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) which provides assistance to police forces in developing countries through the world to strengthen police investigative capacities.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is providing a powerful incentive for governments to adopt tough anticorruption policies and strengthen their anticorruption institutions. In implementing the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the MCC works to lift people around the world out of poverty through economic growth and incentives for governance reform.
MCC offers grant assistance to developing countries that are willing to implement tough anticorruption reforms. As a result, countries are taking it upon themselves to pass stronger anticorruption laws, strengthen oversight institutions, open up the public policy-making process to greater public scrutiny, and step up corruption-related investigations and prosecutions.
Conclusion
In closing, the United States will continue to increase international cooperation to identify and prevent access by kleptocrats to financial systems; to deny safe haven to corrupt officials; to identify, recover and return proceeds of corruption; and to provide anticorruption assistance for capacity and training to strengthen critical law enforcement and rule of law systems.
We also look forward to continuing our partnership with those who are committed to prosecuting the battle against corruption including the implementation of the UN Convention Against Corruption.
We believe that a strong anticorruption regime is also vital to U.S. strategic partnerships that focus on cooperation on numerous fields including commerce, trade and investment, high-technology, and democracy promotion.
Finally, fighting corruption is an ongoing and deliberate process. Working together through synergies and partnerships, including with international donors, we can create a better future by continuing a united effort against corruption and building communities throughout the world where all individuals can be governed with the highest levels of integrity.
Through a renewed commitment to anticorruption and integrity, people can transform their communities, build enduring foundations for future generations to expose and punish corruption, and leave a legacy for their children anchored on the values of honest governance, openness, just conduct, free media, and the rule of law.