The Potential Ramifications of FATF Sidelining Russia.

In recent weeks there have been reports that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is discussing the possibility of excluding Russia from the anti-money laundering group due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. According to the International Working Group on Russian sanctions (a collection of independent experts in international relations based at Stanford University), the ramifications of FATF blocking Russia would be considerable. Firstly, it wouldn’t allow Russia to influence the creation of new International anti-money laundering laws, which Russia may try and water down with its influence. Secondly, it would force western banks to institute further checks on any capital flows in or out of Russia. Finally, complete sanctions would most likely stop the current practice of Russian companies being able to conduct financial dealings through one of the few banks in Russia that have not yet been banned.

Given the current circumstances, Ukrainian financial institutions are leading the drive to get Russia sanctioned by FATF. On October 14th, the National Bank of Ukraine released a statement pushing FATF to exclude Russia from future FATF conferences and legislation. The Ukrainian World Congress, a non-profit organization advocating for the rights of Ukrainians worldwide, has added its voice to calls for Russia to be sidelined. While the West should welcome such a move, it is now unclear if and when it will happen.

The Mississippi Welfare Scandal that Blindsided Brett Favre

In May 2020, reports of a wide-ranging corruption scandal involving the Mississippi Department of Human services emerged. An article in the local paper, Mississippi Today, stated that a report by the state auditor highlighted concerns that up to 94 million dollars in Mississippi DHS funds were allotted to charities that had close links to prominent Mississippians. In one of the most high-profile cases, the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC), run by Nancy New, funneled 5 million dollars into building a new volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi. The person pushing for the facility to be built was none other than former Super Bowl winning quarterback Brett Favre, a graduate of USM. Favre’s daughter attended the school at the time and played on the volleyball team. At around the same time, John Davis, the head of the Mississippi DHS, awarded 2 million dollars to the Heart of David Ministry, owned by a friend of Davis, Ted Dibiase, a former WWE wrestler better known as the “Million Dollar Man.” Fast forward to September of last year, and Davis pled guilty to two federal charges, one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.

It is suggested that former Republican governor Phil Bryant and Ms. New helped Favre obtain federal money that would be directed toward the volleyball facility. One of the main reasons this scandal has caused such an uproar is that for many years the state of Mississippi has turned down federal money to help improve its health and education systems, which are among the worst in the nation. Last week Favre released a statement saying that he had nothing to do with the scandal despite solid rumors to the contrary.

Sergei Surovikin: Is he Corrupt or Not?

Recently, President Vladimir Putin named Sergei Surovikin as the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. In many articles announcing his appointment, military sources (mainly the Ministry of Defense (MOD) in the United Kingdom) state that he is corrupt, brutal, and ruthless on the battlefield. According to the New York Times, he served in Chechnya in the early 2000s and commanded Russian forces in Syria, where numerous human rights violations occurred. Also, according to a report in The Guardian, Surovikin led a rifle division that broke barriers set up by pro-democracy protesters during the 1991 attempted coup by Soviet hardliners and killed three people.

It is much harder to pin him down on any concrete allegations of corruption other than the possibility of weapons dealing. Brokering arms is undoubtedly an unsavory business, but without in-depth evidence, it seems a stretch to label Surovikin as corrupt. This raises the issue of media outlets and other organizations stating that a person may be involved in corruption, but fail to back up such allegations with credible evidence. It seems clear that Surovikin is likely a war criminal, but is he corrupt? It is much more difficult to tell without hard facts.

Lula Da Silva: A Corrupt Politician or Hero to Brazil’s Working Class?

Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, better known as Lula, has been a prominent figure in Brazilian politics and on the international stage. Silva was the head of the metalworkers union in Sao Paulo state and, in the mid-1980s, founded the Partido Dos Trabalhadores (PT), known in English as the workers’ party. After many failed attempts, he was elected as president of Brazil in 2003 and served until 2010. In 2014 four years after he left office, a massive corruption scandal involving the state oil firm Petrobras.

According to BBC, In July 2017, Lula was found guilty of receiving a beachfront house as a bribe from a construction firm called OAS in return for his aid in winning lucrative government contracts. After spending four years in prison, his convictions were annulled because the alleged crimes took place in Brasilia when Lula was president and not in Curitiba in the state of Parana. This freed up the possibility for him to run again for president after three years of populist rule under Jair Bolsonaro. The first round of the election was held recently, and while Lula got 48% of the vote, he needed 50% to win outright. (Bolsonaro received 42%) A runoff will be held at the end of the month to determine the winner. It is difficult to know what the truth is here: Is Lula a hero to Brazil’s working class, or is he like so many other politicians who are corrupted by power?

The Capture of “Fat Leonard.”

Recently, Venezuelan police captured Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard,” after he fled from his San Diego home while under house arrest. Francis, a Malaysian defense contractor was involved in a massive 35-million-dollar bribery and fraud scandal. Earlier this month, according to The Guardian’s Edward Helmore, Francis, who is due to be sentenced for his part in the scandal, cut off his ankle bracelet and left the U.S with the possible intention of going to Asia or Russia. Fat Leonard was brazen in his methods for winning lucrative U.S Navy contracts. He would host lavish parties for members of the U.S. navy in Asian ports, wining and dining the right people to gain preferential treatment in the bidding for resupplying contracts.

On the 27th of September of last year, Aljazeera reported that Fat Leonard has kidney cancer and was attempting to apply for political asylum in Venezuela. According to the report, it has been suggested by the State Department that the socialist government in Venezuela, led by Nicolas Maduro could use him as a bargaining chip to reduce U.S. sanctions. According to PBS, the sanctions toward Venezuela prevent U.S banks from dealing with the Venezuelan government or the state oil firm PDVSA. While the U.S does have an extradition treaty with Venezuela, it does not have an embassy in Caracas, which could make any deal more complicated.

EU Gravy Train to be Halted in Budapest.

Recently, the European Union has threatened to cut off funds from its state budget to Hungary. Reportedly, the EU could withhold up to 7.5 billion Euros from the Hungarian government. If the EU does indeed take action, this could deliver a severe blow to an already struggling economy. According to the EU, this is being considered because the Hungarian government led by Viktor Orban has diverted EU funds to friendly oligarchs. Hungary is also accused of having inadequate anti-corruption laws. In response to this, the Hungarian government has stated that it will enact new anti-corruption legislation shortly.

It is widely acknowledged that Orban and his cronies engage in corrupt practices. Orban, like many other populist leaders, uses sport as a tool to shape their political vision, mainly to increase his domestic popularity and a way to boost his ego. This has involved the use of government money to support football clubs. For example, according to an article by Tomasz Mortimer in The Guardian, the Orban government spent around 2 billion Euros on stadium construction and youth academies’ development. Orban has also authorized 100 million Euros to Puskas Akademia FC in his hometown of Felcsut. Orban has subsidized clubs owned by his oligarch friends, which has raised concerns about how the government is spending money. Using government funds to construct football stadiums instead of investing money into healthcare or education is misguided.

A New Anti- Corruption Task Force in Australia?

The recently elected Labor government (similar to the Democrats in the U.S), led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is planning to introduce new anti-corruption legislation. The main goal of this legislation is to set up a federal task force to oversee any anti-corruption investigations. In recent years, there have been several high-profile corruption scandals, including one involving a labor member of Parliament who accepted money from Chinese donors six years ago. According to Peter Hartcher of the Sydney Morning Herald, polling in Australia suggests that the public wants stronger A-C laws. Although bodies already exist at the state level in Australia dealing with this issue, this new legislation will be national. However, despite Albanese’s pledge to enact the law by the end of the year, there are signs that it could be held up by cross-bench members of Parliament who want an in-depth debate of the bill before enacting it. Its passage has also been held up by the passing of the Queen, which has caused Parliament to go into recess.

Viktor Gusan: the Corrupt Sheriff of Transnistria.

Recently, in a Europa League match, Manchester United, one of the most recognizable names in world football (soccer), played a team from Moldova called FC Sheriff. The background of FC Sheriff is fascinating and mysterious. The club are based in Transnistria, a breakaway self-governing republic of Moldova that has close geopolitical ties to Russia. A company, also called Sheriff, owns the football club and additionally has its hands in many other businesses, including gas stations, supermarkets, and the local mobile phone network. Viktor Gusan, the owner of Sheriff—both the club and the company–is also allegedly involved in the illegal smuggling of many goods, including weapons. Gusan called his company Sheriff due to a love of old western movies. According to Foreign Policy magazine’s Robert O’Connor, the Sheriff company increased its bottom line through smuggling. Most of these goods make their way towards Odesa, Ukraine, a haven for illicit activities before the recent conflict with Russia.

With his accumulated wealth, Gusan built a $200 million stadium and spent lavishly on new players from foreign countries to help drive FC Sheriff to the top of the Moldavan League standings. Gusan is also heavily involved in local politics, and, according to Radio Free Europe’s Timothy Wesolowsky, he has close ties with almost every politician in the Transnistrian parliament. It is probably safe to say that not much happens in Transnistria without his approval.

Bannon Indicted for Defrauding Contributors

One of former President Donald Trump’s chief advisors, Steve Bannon, is facing charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York State for money laundering and conspiracy to defraud contributors. According to Politico’s Julian Shen-Berro, Bannon is alleged, through a fundraising initiative called We Build the Wall, to have collected money in 2019 from donors to support building a wall along the U.S/Mexico border. Trump made a campaign promise to build such a wall and to make Mexico pay for it, but Trump never achieved that goal. We Build the Wall collected15 million dollars towards that end.

However, it appears that Bannon used some of the donated money to pay a salary to the president of We Build The Wall, Brian Kolfage, a former Air Force veteran, even though Kolfage publicly insisted that he would receive no compensation for his role in developing the fund. The charge is that Bannon used the rest of the money for personal use. Ironically, Trump pardoned Bannon before leaving office in January of 2021 over these exact charges, at the federal level, brought by the Department of Justice. But that doesn’t pardon Bannon from charges made by New York state, where it appears that Bannon or one of his co-defendants were living at the time. The pardon demonstrates that both Trump and Bannon believed that the federal charges were accurate and could jeopardize Bannon. Bannon could face up to 15 years in jail and heavy financial penalties if convicted. Of course, like many corruption cases, the donors who contributed to the effort will probably never see their money again…or a completed wall.

Zelenskyy’s House Cleaning.

Recently. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has fired several high-ranking officials in what is becoming an ever-widening corruption scandal. Reports emerged on Monday, the 23rd of January, that Zelenskyy had fired his deputy infrastructure minister Vasyl Lozinskyi for allegedly stealing $400,000 that was intended to support the war effort. According to an article in The Guardian, Lozinskyi colluded with contractors to inflate the prices of items such as generators, and he would pocket the difference. According to a Reuters article from the 22nd of January, the defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov had secured food on contracts at highly inflated prices. Zelenskyy’s deputy cabinet minister was also fired after allegations emerged that he drove luxury cars around Kyiv shortly after Russia invaded.

A Washington Post article published recently highlights the role journalists and NGOs in Ukraine have played in exposing corrupt schemes. Also, according to a recent report by The Guardian, Oleksandr Novikov, the country’s lead anti-corruption tsar, has vowed not to let up on pursuing corrupt individuals despite being in the middle of a war. According to polling done in Ukraine before the war, only 40 percent of the Ukrainian population was willing to report corruption. However, 84 percent of the population is now ready to report wrongdoing. Surely if Countries such as the US and the UK are going to continue giving military aid to Ukraine, they will want to see some progress on the anti-corruption front.