It may not be scientific research but the word-of-mouth system around South East England last week was that the property boom was already in the grip of a downturn as the IMF issued a report saying that it was all rosy. Last year, the UK housing market, according to some reports, soared 25% by average house price value.

Russia is to be admitted to the Financial Action Task Force at its plenary meeting in Berlin this coming June.

On 29 January 2003, KPMG issued a press release responding to the writ issued by the SEC. The full text of the KPMG release is below.

The full text of the 2003 writ in the case of the USA's SEC v KMPG JOSEPH T. BOYLE, MICHAEL A.
CONWAY, ANTHONY P. DOLANSKI and RONALD A. SAFRAN alleging "Defendants KPMG LLP ("KPMG") and certain KPMG partners permitted Xerox Corporation ("Xerox") to manipulate its accounting practices and fill a USD3,000 million "gap" between actual operating results and results reported to the investing public from 1997 through 2000." Civil Action No. 03-CV-0671(DLC) COMPLAINT SECURITIES FRAUD Reproduced verbatim.

The signatures on the covering letter (strangely undated) sent to Congress are immediately striking: Greenspan, O'Neill and Pitt. The report is dated 31 December 2002 and that is the date it was released. Presumably, then, that is the date that should have been on the letter.

An edited version of an article that first appeared 31 December 2002

The past year has been strange. And the reasons for that strangeness began, at least in the UK and at least in part, in early 2001. At the beginning of 2001, in the UK, we knew that there were going to be several significant changes to the law relating to money laundering and the regulatory framework in which we operated.

Hui Wei-chun, 39, unemployed, was jailed for two years and 10 months, and Cheung Kam-lun, 54, merchant, was jailed for two years and nine months in Hong Kong for their parts in laundering schemes. In mitigation, the court rejected a claim that they had been "entrapped" into committing the offence.

The latest plan to restructure the balance sheets of Japanese banks, overburdened with "non-performing loans," is bound to lead to fraud and corruption, says leading counter-money laundering strategist Nigel Morris-Cotterill, Head, The Anti Money Laundering Network.

Debt Levels Creating Opportunities for Launderers, says Nigel Morris-Cotterill

This list applies to all financial services businesses operating in the UK and their overseas branches and subsidiaries.

World Money Laundering Report Volume 2 No. 1 - published January 2000

The USA has seemingly abandoned its stance on the export of high power cryptographic programs known as “strong encryption”.

The following list consists of individuals and business entities.

Anyone identifying these persons should act in accordance with their reporting and other obligations.

Australia: Reserve Bank of Australia (updated 9 November 2001)

If this list returns a positive match, contact your regulator and seek guidance. The information in the list is current as at 3 October 2001. Although this list is produced by The Reserve Bank of Australia, it has international application.

Where there is a match, you should contact your regulator or anti-terrorist authority for guidance.