Issue 10

SUB-SAHARA AFRICA

ANGOLA
CONGO/ZAIRE 
NIGERIA
SOUTH AFRICA

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SUB-SAHARA AFRICA

 

AFRICAN UNION EXPOSES HERETOFORE SHROUDED AFRICAN STATISTICS.

qz reports: “Thabo Mbeki’s report, commissioned by the African Union, which said that at least $60 billion in ‘illicit financial flows’ was leaving Africa every year instead of being used for the continent’s development. This included not only money plainly stolen, but also taxes and tariffs evaded by dubious but not necessarily illegal methods – for example, registering companies that earn their profits in Africa, in offshore tax havens.” VJ1-1  UBS targets African wealthy oligarchs as Credit Suisse relies upon Zurich  & London offices.

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SWISS UBS TARGETS AFRICAN RICH FOR UBS “PERFECTION  EXPERIENCE”!

African Ventures reports: “The amount of people on the continent that fall within our wealth- management bracket is increasing every day and there are still tons of opportunities relatively untapped,” said Sean Bennett, the managing director of UBS in sub-Saharan Africa. UBS is vying with Swiss banks from Julius Baer Group to Pictet & Cie. for emerging market millionaires as a global crackdown on tax evasion forces European and American clients to withdraw funds. … Africa, where Nigeria’s Alhaji Aliko Dangote ranks 35th on a global rich list, may provide part of the answer. … “There are a lot of countries that have become increasingly interesting investment opportunities,” said Bennett, who is targeting Africans with $3 million of investable assets.”  VJ1-2 This should send fear into every African country. It connotes that UBS is aggressively plying business their dubious practices in sub-Sahara Africa. Again, these are some but far from all the criminality practiced in Africa by the likes of UBS.

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UBS SUB-SAHARA STRATEGY PARTIALLY UNVEILED!

Bloomberg reports: “UBS AG, the world’s biggest wealth manager, is targeting millionaire clients in oil-rich Nigeria and Angola … ‘The amount of people on the continent that fall within our wealth-management bracket is increasing every day,’ Sean Bennett, the Johannesburg-based managing director of UBS in sub-Saharan Africa … ‘The UBS strategy has been that you win market share by being onshore and for a long time,’ … UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti is prioritizing boosting profit at the Zurich-based bank’s wealth-management unit as he cuts 10,000 jobs and shrinks the investment bank by exiting most debt trading. … Wealth-management assets will increase with the next generation of the continent’s rich, said Bennett. ‘Because a lot of the growth is more recent, Africa’s entrepreneurs still have a lot of their wealth tied up in their businesses,’ he said. ‘The second wave, where they start to monetize their wealth, is still relatively nascent.’ ” VJ1-3  Rich Africans have used offshore banking in London and Switzerland at bank headquarters for secrecy and other needs,  in the past.  They openly spend lavishly in London, Switzerland et al without fear of being discovered by starving masses they swindled back in Africa.  This is changing with new tax offshore laws  in African migrations to Europe.  Rich Africans are now attracted to Dubai type Disneylands with accompanying one stop financial malls out of sight from African starving masses and ethical media.   South Africa, Morocco et al are now attempting to apply the same secrecy and other needs to obtain Sub-Sahara market share.

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CORRUPTION RAMPANT IN RESOURCE DRILLING.

Washington Post reports: “Ventures that drill or dig for oil, gas, diamonds, gold and other resources have long been dogged by evidence that contracts are often secured through bribery and other corrupt tactics that benefit a few and harm average citizens. Suspect mining and energy deals are usually organized through secretive companies and hard-to-trace bank accounts, corruption experts say. … “Companies may be given access to lucrative extractive projects because their owners are politically connected, or because their owners are willing to engage in questionable deals aimed at generating quick profits for a few rather than benefits for wider society,” Fredrik Reinfeldt, former prime minister of Sweden and now head of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, told ICIJ. He said the use of anonymous companies makes it harder to prevent money laundering and corruption because it allows wrongdoers to “hide behind a chain of companies often registered in multiple jurisdictions.” VJ1-4 UBS is formost in encouraging and implementing this pattern of behavior, especially in targeted Sub Saharan, Africa. We only know by the times UBS gets caught. The profits must be enormous considering UBS continues without remorse.

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SECRET OFFSHORE DEALS DEPRIVE AFRICA OF BILLIONS IN NATURAL RESOURCE USA$.

Huffington Post reports: “The Panama Papers show politicians and mining, oil and gas interests benefit from secrecy and dubious multimillion dollar transfersBetween 2004 and 2013, Algeria, home to the second-largest oil reserves in Africa, lost an average of $1.5 billion annually through tax avoidance, bribery, corruption and criminality, the research group Global Financial Integrity estimates. Across the continent, the United Nations estimates at least $50 billion each year goes unaccounted for due to illicit money flows. … Oil-rich Nigeria, for example, routinely tops the list of African nations from which billions of dollars are siphoned each year. Mossack Fonseca’s files show the law firm’s former customers included three oil ministers, senior national oil company employees and two former state governors later convicted of laundering oil-tainted wealth. … Nigeria’s current (former) president, Muhammadu Buhari, has called on world leaders to do more to help African nations fight money laundering and shine light on offshore hideaways. … ‘Every dollar siphoned through dirty deals and corruption to offshore tax havens makes the livelihood and survival of the average African more precarious,’ Buhari said in a speech delivered at an anti-corruption summit in London one month after the release of Panama Papers.” VJ1-5

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Swiss banks are under more pressure to return stolen funds to African countries. (Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann)

SWISS BANKSTERS SWEAR THEY ARE TRYING TO HELP AFRICA GET ITS DIRTY MONEY BACK!

Qz.com reports:  “Valentin Zellweger (director general of public international law and legal Advisor of the Swiss foreign ministry)  said the world was becoming tougher for the corrupt. Twenty years ago, bribes were tax deductible for companies in Switzerland and many other countries. Now they were illegal. The release of the Panama Papers had also illustrated how difficult it was to hide dirty money today when so much information could be moved electronically. But it was still difficult to recover stolen assets, Zellweger said.  Africans at the discussion criticized Switzerland and other European financial centers for failing to do more to return the money stolen from the continent by corrupt leaders, and stashed in their banks. Zellweger said they were helpless without the legal cooperation of the governments in the countries where the money came from. Which was not always forthcoming, surprisingly.” VJ1-6

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UBS GETS CAUGHT LAUNDERING AFRICAN BRIBES.

Financial Times reports: “Ex-Guinea minister convicted of laundering bribes. Former UBS banker Mahmoud Thiam ‘channelled $8.5m to mansion purchase and school fees’ ”. VJ-7  World bank regulators can only wonder the extent to which UBS will go if it will criminally launder insignificant “school fees”.  Please note “former UBS banker” is improperly allowed by establishment media when in fact all of these “formers” were committing their UBS crimes as UBS bankers.

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ANGOLA

 

ANGOLAN OFFICIALS ALLEGEDLY RECEIVE MILLIONS IN USA$ DIVERTED FROM A DEBT DEAL WITH RUSSIA.

The Guardian reports: “Case provides vivid example of plundering that can take place in developing nations with complicity of European banks and tax havens … Its author is Andrew Feinstein, a former South African member of parliament and current director of Corruption Watch UK. … While it is not uncommon for a creditor to engage a financially reputable middleman to collect debts, the report says that in this case the intermediary chosen was a company specially set up for the occasion, Abalone Investments, which had no assets and was registered on the Isle of Man. Abalone was owned by two businessmen with a history of making money in deals with Angola: Arcadi Gaydamak and Pierre Falcone. They opened an escrow account at the Swiss bank SBS, which later became UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank. … In Feinstein’s words, UBS appeared to execute the transfers from Abalone’s account without subjecting them to any meaningful internal review, or referring them to the authorities, despite the potential illicit risks involved. … ‘The central point is that a number of individuals, some of which have not  yet been identified, made vast profits at the expense of the people of Angola and Russia,” Feinstein said. He (Feinstein) added that it was because of the facilitating role of banks, tax havens and the veil provided by front companies that national resources were stolen from the poorest citizens with    impunity.’ ”  VJ2-1 UBS has used similar tactics in other developing  countries.’

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Angolan scam scheme facilitated by Swiss bank SBS, which became UBS.

INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION EXPOSES UBS FACILITATED ANGOLAN THEFT!

Incomplete list of known or estimated receipts from the Debt Deal to various participants.

Name

Role in the Debt Deal Transaction

Amount US$

Arcadi GAYDAMAK

371⁄2% owner of Abalone Investments; architect of the Debt Deal

138,037,3031

Pierre FALCONE

371⁄2% owner of Abalone Investments; architect of the Debt Deal

124,963,6802

Vitaly MALKIN

25% owner of Abalone Investments

48,834,0003

José Eduardo dos SANTOS

President of Angola

36,250,0004

Elísio de FIGUEIREDO

Angolan Ambassador without portfolio to France

17,557,0005

Joaquim Duarte da Costa DAVID

Director General of Sonangol until 1998; thereafter Minister of Industry

13,250,0006

José PAIVA da COSTA CASTRO

Director General of Sonangol UK

4,465,0007

José LEITÃO da COSTA e SILVA

Minister in the Office of the Angolan Presidency

3,358,0008

Total

$386,714,983

RECOGNITIONS

The Report was financed by the Bill &  Malinda Gates Foundation.

The Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes and the Open Society Foundation hosted the public event at which the report, Deception in high places: the corrupt Angola-Russia debt deal, was presented.

Its author is Andrew Feinstein, a former South African member of parliament and current director of Corruption Watch UK. Gomes praised Feinstein for producing the report despite potential legal challenges, and said his Angolan partners had taken “serious personal risk”. VJ2-2  Bill & Malinda Gates live seasonally at their Wellington International Equestrian Center homes West of Herb Mallard’s Palm Beach beachfront residence.  Their daughter is a highly  regarded jumper.   Herb Mallard, Bill and Malinda have friends in common and converse at the equestrian competitions.  Malinda went to same private school as Herb’s sister.  Herb has mentioned his respect for their above mentioned Foundation accomplishments.

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CONGO/ZAIRE

Author Michelle Bokre

PHOTOGRAPHER INITIATES A CONSENSUAL PROTEST IN UBS SWISS LOBBY.

Author Michelle Bokre reports: “{Human Rights Watch} approached Metalor Technologies (Swiss Company) with the report that included my photographs, and we asked them, ‘Will you stop doing this because you are funding and fueling the conflict in their region of the DRC?’ They refused, continuously, even after several requests by Human Rights Watch.  So we had an exhibition in the lobby of the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), in Geneva.  The fact that UBS agreed to let us mount an exhibit was unusual for a corporation, and I think that the UBS curator there had some tough questions to respond to after the opening evening, but UBS had been bold by pulling out of their investments in the DRC … So they were already the good guys in the conflict, or at least not so much the bad guys.  Anyway, we invited journalists, the investors of Metalor Technologies, and their shareholders, and of course, we invited executives of Metalor.  The exhibit had the effect of affecting them financially, because their investors were unhappy in the way they were funding, or sourcing, their revenues.  The journalists were unhappy, and their shareholders were unhappy, so several days later they pulled out and issued an a apology. And the $100 million off funding that had been purchasing weapons and uniforms for the rebel commanders just dried up overnight.” VJ3-1  UBS had a get-out-of-jail-free card from Obama allegedly given for deferred payments to Obama upon leaving the USA Presidency.  Everything the UBS pay-to-play scheme with Clinton/Bush/Obama Presidencies has been considered reprehensible with President Trump.  It is doubtful UBS and it’s collaborators will be allowed to further conduct documented criminal activities against USA elderly  under the President Trump Administration.

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Several known Swiss companies are directly or indirectly involved in  the extraction of conflict zone minerals.

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Mobutu Sese Seko estate in Savigny, Switzerland now owned by UBS, somehow.

UBS BUYS MOBUTO SWISS MANSION AT A STEAL!

UBS has bought a Swiss lakeside villa which once belonged to Congolese dictator Mobutu Sese Seko  … Years of legal wrangling with Mobutu’s heirs over the proceeds and other assets held in Switzerland followed, until the statute of limitations ran out and Switzerland was forced to unfreeze the assets …  UBS was the only bidder for the former Mobutu property, which was sold at auction … ‘UBS owns showcase properties in Switzerland’.  Mobutu died in Morocco surrounded by luxury.” VJ3-2  This initiated the usual fight to obtain his UBS assets by  family members with UBS and Swiss judiciary putting up the usual  obfuscates and blockers.  We have seen this behavior with other families being blocked by UBS, such as the Marcos family of Philippines.   We have a list of the UBS Swiss Government tricks used against UBS client victims in both USA and Switzerland.

Imaginative UBS picketers using a vulture image to symbolize UBS World business tactics!

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NIGERIA

 

NIGERIAN JET SETTER “BUSINESS MAN” KOLA ALUKO STAYS OUT OF JAIL, SOMEHOW!

London Telegraph reports: “With his luxury yacht, Swiss chateau and network of celebrity friends, businessman Kola Aluko is a regular face in the gossip columns of newspapers in his native Nigeria. … Oil revenues are Nigeria’s key asset, yet over the last 40 years, very little of it has reached its 170m population, who remain among the poorest on the planet. … Nigeria investigates allegations that up to $20bn has gone missing from state oil revenues. A joint inquiry with Britain’s National Crime Agency is examining claims of embezzlement on a huge scale under the rule of President Goodluck Jonathan, with the trail leading all over the world, including Britain. The Telegraph has now learned that the Crown Prosecution Service has requested the help of the Swiss authorities in inquiries relating to Mr Aluko … Mr Aluko, by contrast, has never made any secret of his life as an international jet setter.  As well as villas in Switzerland and Beverley Hills, he is also a passionate motor racer and used to sit on the advisory board of a firm that rented out private jets. … A Swiss government spokesman added: ‘At the end of September 2015 the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) received a request for legal assistance of the Crown Prosecution Service (in Britain) concerning Kola Aluko. The FOJ has forwarded the request to the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) for execution.’ Yet while the missing oil money inquiry is Nigeria’s highest-profile corruption case, it may just be the tip of the iceberg. “Whenever a Nigerian politician flies abroad, there is a very high chance there will be corrupt deals going on,” Mr Oguntala added”. (London Telegraph // 5/13/16) Reliable UBS sources have said much of the Nigerian offshore assets are with UBS. UBS will probably use the same looting technique we see in the UBS Malasian asset looting. If Aluko died UBS will find their documents have technicalities and his family will not be entitled to the UBS Swiss client Aluko assets. If the Aluko family sue in Switzerland they will find further court technicalities. They will have to translate all documents into French and German. Their recommended Swiss lawyer create the court theater to pump up or churn legal fees. In essence the Swiss courts are rigged in favor of Swiss entities like UBS. One has to only ask the surfing heirs to Mohmmar Kaddafi, Foreign Minister if Indonesia, et al.” VJ4-1

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NIGERIA RECLAIMS STOLEN ASSETS.

Reuters reports: “All these are monies recovered from individuals and entities who had either hidden, stolen, diverted or were in possession of monies belonging to the nation (Nigeria),” the minister’s special adviser, Segun Adeyemi, told Reuters. … The ministry also said a total of $321 million was yet to be recovered from Nigerians in Switzerland, the Britain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates or their assets held in those countries. Last month Buhari urged other countries and the United Nations to speed up the process of repatriating stolen money held abroad, which he said was becoming “tedious.’ ” VJ4-2 It is rare the World gets a highly ethical politician like Buhari to come forth against national corruption. UBS and other Swiss banks truly believe these assets will procedurally be in their vaults in perpetuity. UBS secret Group Executive Board Chief Sergio Ermotti has chastised even the Swiss government operatives for not defending the UBS continuing international swindling practices.

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SOUTH AFRICA

UBS SOLICITS AFRICAN WEALTHY FROM SOUTH AFRICA OFFICE.

Bloomberg reports: “UBS AG, the world’s biggest wealth manager, is targeting millionaire clients in oil-rich Nigeria and Angola as Swiss rival Credit Suisse Group AG withdraws from some African markets. … ‘The amount of people on the continent that fall within our wealth-management bracket is increasing every day,’  Sean Bennett, the Johannesburg-based managing director of UBS in sub-Saharan Africa, said in a Nov. 20 interview. ‘There’s still tons of opportunities still relatively untapped.’ …  The industries contributing most to wealth creation on the continent include telecommunications, consumer, agriculture and resources, said Bennett … ‘There are a lot of countries that have become increasingly interesting investment opportunities,’ said Bennett, who is targeting Africans with $3 million of investable assets. … ‘Nigeria is obviously the hot market, but Kenya is also producing a lot of wealth, although it’s still a relatively small market by comparison,’ Bennett said. … Wealth-management assets will increase with the next generation of the continent’s rich, said Bennett.  ‘Because a lot of the growth is more recent, Africa’s entrepreneurs still have a lot of their wealth tied up in their businesses,’ he said. ‘The second wave, where they start to monetize their wealth, is still relatively nascent.’ ” VJ5-1

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UBS OFFICE ONLY PROVIDES SERVICE FOR  RICH OF AFRICA.

UBS says: “The Swiss financial services company UBS has one office in South Africa – in Johannesburg. It offers a range of wealth management services to high net worth customers. It is not licensed to provide services in South Africa so its products are delivered via UBS Switzerland. The products that are available include wealth management, research, wealth planning, investment services, and business services.” VJ5-2  USA law does not seem to bother UBS but it abides to the letter of the law in in South Africa and other strict countries.  Perhaps it has something to do with USA Presidential deferred payments to Clinton, Bush and now Obama.