READ TODAYS' NEW US SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN BANKS

This is from Today's entry on Whitehouse.gov:

Full blocking sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, and Russia’s largest private bank, Alfa Bank. This action will freeze any of Sberbank’s and Alfa Bank’s assets touching the U.S financial system and prohibit U.S. persons from doing business with them. Sberbank holds nearly one-third of the overall Russian banking sector’s assets and is systemically critical to the Russian economy. Alfa Bank is Russia’s largest privately-owned financial institution and Russia’s fourth largest financial institution overall.

UK IS SCREENING ALL ARRIVING PASSENGERS WITH EAST CARIBBEAN PASSPORTS, TO INTERDICT RUSSIAN NATIONALS HOLDING CBI PASSPORTS

We have been warning our readers since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and the subsequent imposition of sanctions, particularly against Russian Oligarchs, that there would be pushback against Russians who attempted to use their CBI passports, especially those issued by the five East Caribbean states of St. Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia and Grenada.

Immigration, customs and law enforcement agents in the United Kingdom are now acting under orders to carefully screen all arriving passengers holding East Caribbean passports, looking for Russian nationals seeking entry via Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passports showing them as citizens of one of the five EC states that issue CBI passports.

Whilst we do not have any information on how the authorities intend to treat those individuals, it is presumed that any who are identified as Russians will be taken into custody, detained, most likely interrogated and their luggage thoroughly searched, and eventually deported back to their point of origin. Given that there are long lists of Oligarchs subject to sanctions in several countries, and who may be subject to arrest in one or more jurisdictions, it is expected that the period of detention may be lengthy.

What effect this new policy will have on the CBI programmes of the five EC states is not known, but it will certainly greatly diminish the value of such passports, which are touted globally by the largest CBI consulting firms as offering visa-free entry to more countries than a number of passports from nations in the developing world. 

CBI CONSULTANTS PURSUE RUSSIAN NATIONALS DESPERATELY SEEKING NEW NATIONALITY AND PASSPORTS

With the global sanctions being imposed upon Russia. its billionaire Oligarchs and companies, due to the world's outrage over the Ukraine invasion, which is even more intense now, after the recent discovery of war crimes. Holding a Russian passport these days can be downright hazardous to your assets, not to mention your health. Whilst it is the Russian dictatorship of Vladimir Putin and his oligarch supporters that are the targets of global anger, ordinary(non-Oligarch) Russian businessmen are finding that their passport does not exactly engender a warm response abroad. They need a solution, fast, and fast-talking CBI salesmen are there to take advantage of their dire situation. Don't expect an honest opinion about your contemplated passport purchase.

This week, in reviewing the latest crop of "informercials," paid adverts placed as of they were news articles, by international Citizenship by Investment (CBI) passport sales consultancies, I noticed that some have taken the dark turn towards marketing to Russian passport holders, after remarking that their prospects' current passports now guarantee serious problems in obtaining visas when they travel on business. It appears that the current political and and military situations have made Russians  persona non grata in many countries, and therefore blocked from entry.

The CBI consultancies offer a fast solution:  acquire a CBI passport from one of their clients, in the East Caribbean ( St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia & Grenada), or Europe ( Malta), or perhaps something a little more exotic, from one of the more remote regions of the world, and use that new travel document to enter Western countries visa-free, not as a Russian, but perhaps as a citizen of a country within the Commonwealth of Nations jurisdictions, who have carte blanche to enter Western Europe, as well as elsewhere, via  visa-waiver online programmes.

Given that the sales staff at those CBI consultancies are not practising attorneys duly licensed in the jurisdictions where they are selling passports & citizenship programmes, their new and eager Russian clients are usually get the short end of the bargain; they are unaware of many issues specific to the jurisdiction, some of which might give the Russian buyers second thoughts. Additionally, the island nation where they are becoming citizens is most likely a tax haven a/k/a offshore banking centre, where money laundering, tax evasion by foreign nationals, and many other manner of criminal activity is the rule, rather than the exception, and the new citizen has unwittingly acquired a nationality makes him or her a Person of Interest, or even a subject of investigation by foreign law enforcement agencies.

The quite expensive passports are also subject to what amount to arbitrary and capricious revocation and cancellation by the issuing agency, from which there can be no appeal. Perhaps there was too much public outcry over sales to Russians. Therefore, the desperately seeking Russians end up purchasing a problem in the making, having been thoroughly deceived and defrauded about the attendant disadvantages of obtaining CBI passports. They are like Eskimos purchasing ice makers, and they shouldn't expect a happy ending in their quest to pose as someone else.

YULAN ARCHAGA CARIAS, LEADER OF MS-13, NAMED TO FBI MOST WANTED LIST

 

ACCUSED KILLERS OF DAPHNE CARUANA GALIZIA SEEK IMMUNITY, WANT TO IDENTIFY MASTERMIND AND CONSORTIUM BEHIND THE ASSASSINATION

 

Lest we Forget her Crusade by COSIMO

The alleged killers of Malta's premier investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, in an effort to secure a Presidential pardon for their crimes, have offered to identify the individual they claim was the mastermind behind the criminal conspiracy to silence her for exposing the rampant corruption that has plagued the country since the Labour Party came to power in 2013. Alleging that he is a former minister,  the Degiorgios also want to name and shame a purported middleman in the criminal consortium that organized and financed the horrific crime. They also want to identify a heretofore unknown third party who was involved.

Reliable sources within Malta's Labour Party have disclosed to this blog that the ex-minister they have named as the alleged mastermind is CHRISTIAN CARDONA. Cardona, who has relocated to Dubai, UAE, reportedly because he feared arrest in Malta as well as from INTERPOL, is said by our sources there to be coping with his situation by excessive consumption of alcohol; his reputation addiction to prostitution was exposed by Daphne in her Internet articles. He is a former Minister for the Economy.

Labour Party insiders have long asserted that Cardona has long been protected from criminal prosecution in Malta for murder, due to his close relationship to the powerful disgraced former Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, by threatening to expose Muscat's bad deeds should be be charged.

It is doubtful that the Cabinet will approve immunity from prosecution for the Degiorgios; the members are known to be supporters of the present PM, Robert Abela, who conspicuously avoided appointing any who are known to be under Muscat's influence, as a behind-the-scenes power struggle continues to unfold in Maltese politics.

Our inside source further alleges that the conspirators, after being exposed, set up local businessman Yorgan Fenech to take the blame. We are not absolving YF of aiding and abetting the consortium of plotters, but he made the fatal error of discussing the plot with a whistleblower set up by the group to protect JM and KS, so that they would escape accountability. He further claims that YF, who blindly trusted those two leaders, was the weakest link, due to an alleged addiction, and they took advantage of him, using him dumbing him down.

Will JM and KS get off scot-free in the Daphne case ? We cannot say, but as the scheme continues to unfold, we will be discussing additional information that Maltese media is deliberately failing to publish, fearful of PL retaliation, both economic as well as through physical threats previously conveyed to local reporters, to prevent the truth from coming out, as well as through assistance from corrupt magistrates and members of the judiciary, who will target them for speaking truth to power.

REWARDS FOR JUSTICE - CYBERCRIME - $10m REWARD

 

WHAT EFFECT WILL THE NEW GLOBAL RUSSIAN SANCTIONS HAVE ON THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF CBI PROGRAMMES OF THE 5 EAST CARIBBEAN STATES ?

 

The global reaction to the diabolical Russian invasion of the Ukraine has now extended to the four corners of the earth; the Oligarchs who support Vladimir Putin's dictatorial and evil government are finding that all the places where they have placed their ill-gotten gains are no longer safe from angry government seizure and forfeiture, based upon what amount to universal sanctions being rapidly imposed. The Russian Oligarchs are finally being treated like the criminals they truly are. 

Not only are bank accounts being frozen, and luxury yachts and business jets being confiscated, other assets, such as CBI passports are being revoked and cancelled. The widespread abuse of such economic passports by the Oligarchs, and their families and associates, heretofore not widely known, seems to have generated substantial negative feelings about CBI passport programmers in general. 

Given that the sale of CBI passports to transnational white-collar criminals, Iranians, North Koreans, fraudsters and terrorist financiers, by St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia & Grenada, has already placed those EC states on high-risk status, it may be that their use by the Oligarchs, now global pariahs because of the Ukraine invasion, will be enough to generate a serious international response, targeting the only thing that the CBI passports are purchased for: visa-free entry into Europe.

Will EU pushback, due to targeting of the Oligarchs, result in denying CBI passport holders that prized entry ability ? If this occurs, the CBI industry will grind to a halt, for lack of clients. We call that the Law of Unintended Consequences, but in this case, the unintended result is clearly beneficial, if it happens. Stranger things have happened when governments respond to a crisis.

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SYRIAN TROOPS SUPPORTING THE RUSSIAN ARMY COMMIT ATROCITIES: DOMINICA'S ALLIANCE WITH SYRIA WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES AS THE RESULT

 

Bucha Massacre; 300 dead buried in mass grave

Today's breaking news from the Ukraine, that major war crimes have been committed by Syrian troops fighting for Russia, further implicates Dominica for doing business with the Assad Regime, and selling their leaders, military, and PEPs Dominica CBI passports. Video taken at the scene, clearly showing  unarmed civilians, including children, with their hands tied behind them, being shot in the back of their heads, and buried in mass graves, reportedly shows bearded Syrian troops carrying out the killings. Syrians' burial of unarmed civilians in mass graves, which appeared in the news today, is certain to have consequences. Some of the bodies have signs of torture, a hallmark of the civil war in Syria.

Rapes and looting have also been reported in the areas north of Kiev where mercenary soldiers, a group with a substantial Syrian component, were previously operating, before retreating. International agencies that are responsible for investigating war crimes have reportedly been notified, and Ukraine's president publicly stated that he intends to see those involved in Genocide being brought to justice in the Hague.

 Whilst world disapproval forced Dominica to abruptly cancel its new diplomatic relationship, there are an unknown number of Syrians holding Dominica CBI passports, none of which have been revoked by Dominica, and which are believed to be in use to evade global sanctions, if any turn up in the possession of Syrian troops in the Ukraine, world reaction could be punitive towards Dominica, and it will be richly deserved.

Although Dominica's corrupt government has been largely ignored by the United States and the European Union, its alliance with a pariah regime in Syria, a supporter of the severely sanctioned  Russian Federation, has increased its exposure for sanctions facilitation exponentially. Whether the damage that relationship has caused results in sanctions against Dominica itself, remains an open question.

DOMINICA SEEKS TO SELL CBI PASSPORTS IN NORTH AFRICA

 

In the photograph above you see the official opening of a Consulate for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in the Kingdom of Morocco. That is Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, the driving force behind this move. What you don't see is the real reason that Skerrit would assist in opening a diplomatic mission in a region that has no trade with the East Caribbean states, nor are its Muslim citizens tourists in the region, nor do the two parties have anything in common politically.

 In truth and in fact, Skerrit is trolling for Citizen by Investment (CBI) passport clients, amongst wealthy Moroccan and North African government officials and Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) who are close to their respective government power centres, as well as affluent businessmen with opaque backgrounds, but a lot of cash, and a need for a passport that will give them visa-free entry into the European Union's Schengen Zone, after which they are free to travel, undisturbed, throughout the entire EU. 

Coat of Arms of Morocco

Given Dominica's recent love affair With Syria, a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, and its attempts of late to make a deal with the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, one of the world's most despised radical terrorist governments, you would think its officials would want to scale back their marketing to obviously dodgy applicants abroad, but this is not the case. Dominica continues to seek to sell its CBI passports to anyone with plenty of US dollars in cash, irrespective of how they acquired their dirty money. 

We are fast approaching the point where European customs and immigration officers will choose to redline ALL Dominica passports, and when that happens, there will be a groundswell of anger that will create a political tsunami to drown the current government through political action, or worse, violent reaction. How will regime change occur ? We are tuned through our many Dominica sources, and will keep our readers fully informed; stay tuned for an update.

The Flag of the Kingdom of Morocco

                            

THE POPE WARNS MALTA ABOUT CORRUPTION, BUT NOBODY THERE IS LISTENING

JM Sends his Best Greetings from il Purgatorio  by COSIMO

His Holiness is visiting the Republic of Malta;  one of the first things he did whilst there was to issue a dire warning about the country's rampant, systemic corruption. We quote:

May your commitment to eliminate illegality and corruption be strong, like the north wind that sweeps the coasts of this country,” Francis said in an address to representatives of the Maltese government and diplomatic corps. “May you always cultivate legality and transparency, which will enable the eradication of corruption and criminality, neither of which acts openly and in broad daylight.”*

Unfortunately, the people of Malta were not paying attention; their pockets and purses fattened by years of corruption, being bribes and kickbacks, vote buying, no-show jobs, obscenely lucrative government contracts, nepotism, favoritism, and a host of other political benefits doled out to them for their votes, Malta recently voted in the country's most corrupt government in its history. Its greedy citizens simply refuse to obey their own laws, in favor of short-term benefits.

To add to the hot mess that is Malta, the party in power, Labour, is operating what amounts to a cult of adulation, similar to that as seen in North Korea, where the population has been mesmerized to believe in its prophet, the disgraced and defrocked Joseph Muscat, whose style, in the manner of Malta's original autocrat, Dom Mintoff, resulted in the assassination of the country's sole Voice of Reason, Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Malta's Labour Party operates a criminal justice system that ignores the Rule of Law, in favour of a culture of impunity that allows criminals to cheat justice, so long as they are allied with the PL. The Malta Police, the Attorney General and the judiciary all follow the Party's orders, to the letter, resulting in massive injustice, which is tolerated by the voters, so long as they get their share of the gold.

Here's the problem; Malta's free spending, in a country that has neither natural resources, nor any significant cash source that will survive EU curtailment, shall eventually result in insolvency, in the style of what is happening now in Beirut, with horrific financial consequences. Imagine a Malta desperate to raise money, but nobody will lend to it; that is the shape of things to come.

Of course, the End may come sooner, rather than later. It only takes one domino from Labour's shaky house of cards to fall, and its Game of Thrones will crumble.When Malta least expects it, watch for something untoward to fall upon Malta like a dead weight; don't say we didn't warn you. 

I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the way I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will do what is evil in the LORD’s sight, making him very angry with your actions.” Deuteronomy 31:29

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*Credit: Times of Malta.

IS THE PROTECTIVE ORDER IN THE SAAB MORAN CASE INTENDED TO CONCEAL MALTA FINANCIAL PROVIDERS AS TARGETS, AMONGST OTHERS ?

 

If you closely read our recent article, Protective Order entered in Saab Moran case to keep Evidence from Venezuelan Targets,  you know that there are additional targets of the Saab Moran money laundering investigation that the Department of Justice. The purpose of the rule cited in the order is to deny those targets access to the evidence the US Attorney has produced during Discovery, and anything else that is revealed during the pre-trial period.

My point is that, given that Saab Moran, and his partner, employed corporations organized in Malta as a vehicle top launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from Venezuela, and Saab Moran, who we have assumed is now a cooperating individual, could implicate (1) The financial service professionals who formed the companies and set up the bank accounts, (2) The local Maltese bankers who opened the accounts and moved the funds, and (3) the Maltese lawyers who set up the pipeline.

We do not know who the American criminal defense lawyers were whom Joseph Muscat and a number of his associates reportedly retained to advise them on the odds of a sealed indictment, but given that there have been a large number of Miami money laundering cases pending during the recent past, it is probable that they were also based in  the Magic City.  Did any of Saab Moran's current dream team of lawyers formerly represent Muscat's crew ? If so, that may be  the ;principal reason for the protective order.

Who will be named to a superseding indictment in the Saab case ? We cannot say at this point, but we will be watching.

 

WILL UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS FIND DOMINICA CBI PASSPORTS ON THE BODIES OF DEAD SYRIAN OFFICERS ON THE BATTLEFIELD ?

 

What's it going to take to make Dominica's utterly corrupt Labour government abandon its Citizenship ny Investment (CBI) passport sales programme ? I have an idea; should Ukrainian infantry pick Dominica CBI passports off the corpses of Syrian officers leading mercenaries fighting on behalf of Russia after yet another battle in which Russia's retreated, the world's  furor over Dominica's sale to bad actors might just be sufficient to torpedo the passport programme once and for all.

This is not so far-fetched as you might think; Russian conscripts carried dress uniforms onboard their armored vehicles into Ukraine, as their officers told them they would be participating in a festive parade through Kiev after they took the capital, and replaced the existing government with puppets favorable to Vladimir Putin. Who is to say the Syrian officers with CBI passports already in hand, their pockets fattened with Euros paid to them by Russia, aren't planning a subsequent European vacation ?

Whatever it takes, the Dominica CBI passports, as well as those from St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua & Barbuda, St. Lucia & Grenada, all need to be relegated to the history books. They are too dangerous in the hands of transnational white collar criminals and terrorist financiers. The question is: who or what will accomplish that goal ? Not the United States or the United Kingdom alone; only when those passports are declared not welcome at the world's airports of entry will they stop being facilitators of crime and terrorist financing. 

PROTECTIVE ORDER ENTERED IN SAAB MORAN CASE TO KEEP EVIDENCE FROM VENEZUELAN TARGETS

The District Judge in the Miami Federal money laundering case against ALEX NAIN SAAB MORAN has entered a Protective Order that our non-lawyer readers may not understand; Rule 77.2 of the Local Rules of the Southern District of Florida prohibits attorneys from releasing non-public information that might "prejudice the due administration of justice." 

 While we have no means of confirming it, a reasonable assumption in this case is that there are additional targets of the investigation who are not within the jurisdiction of the United States, and some of the evidence, or Discovery, that has been presented, or will probably be presented during there case, might incriminate them, and possibly cause them to flee to avoid detention and prosecution. 

This Protective Order prohibits the attorneys representing Saab from passing on the material to those individuals, or to third parties. The relevant portion of the Rule appears below for your information.

RULE 77.2 RELEASE OF INFORMATION IN CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PROCEEDINGS

(a) It is the duty of the lawyer or law firm not to release or authorize the release of information or opinion which a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication, in connection with pending or imminent criminal litigation with which the lawyer or the firm is associated, if there is a reasonable likelihood that such dissemination will interfere with a fair trial or otherwise prejudice the due administration of justice. 

KEN RIJOCK WILL BE ON Q95 THIS MORNING TO DISCUSS SYRIA AT 8:25-8:30

                                           DOMINICA readers do not miss it. 

THE APPEARANCE OF SYRIAN TROOPS INSIDE THE UKRAINE FURTHER STIGMATIZES DOMINICA FOR AIDING AND ABETTING A TERRORIST STATE

 

American government sources have stated that Syrian combat troops are among the approximately 1000 mercenaries currently fighting on behalf of Russia inside Ukraine, and many more are k now to be training in Russia, with a third contingent being prepared for shipment to Europe. It is feared that their history of committing war crimes against their own civilian population, including the murder of unarmed civilians, rape, looting and kidnapping, will mark their entry into the Ukraine in large numbers.

This new threat, which has been detailed in Western media, will only further damage the reputation of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which has been selling Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Dominica passports to Syrian government officials and supporters of the Assad regime, as well as unsuccessfully attempting to establish a close Diplomatic relationship with the country, a designated State Sponsor of Terrorism, and a heavily sanctioned pariah on the world's stage.

 Only after global disapproval was exhibited did Dominica withdraw its diplomatic recognition of Syria, with a campaign of disinformation about the matter being an error, that fooled nobody. It is an accepted fact that the country's corrupt Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were behind the diplomatic recognition, for the purpose of selling still more overpriced  CBI passports to Syrians, which provide the holder with visa-free entry to Europe, and could facilitate terrorist acts inside the EU and UK. Syria's alliance with Russia could result in violent attacks on unarmed civilians, to assist Vladimir Putin's agenda of war crimes.

It appears that, so long as they can find purchasers for their lucrative CBI passports, Dominica's labour government will do business with the Devil himself. as long as it is profitable. Whether this will result in universal scrutiny of all Dominica passport holders entering Europe, to insure that Syrians are not sneaking in with them, to commit terrorist acts, or sanctions evasion, we cannot say, but we will bet watching to see the European reaction.