144 - At Presidential Level

The former President of Guatemala has been allegedly up to no good. Unfortunately, he chose the United States as his entry point for illicit funds he acquired through nefarious means.

One possible consequence of an increased anti-money laundering compliance regime is the negative effect upon Taiwan, Republic of China, in its efforts to see diplomatic legitimacy. In the past, it would resort to corruption and cheque-book diplomacy in order to be recognised in various international forums. After all, as the Peoples Republic of China did not engage in diplomatic relations with any nation that recognised Taiwan on the international stage, certain lesser developed countries would sell their political allegiance to the Taiwanese for vast sums of either personal or "foreign-aid" funds.

Now the Taiwanese purse string controllers must contend with American AML legislation and financial intelligence. Time to become a little more professional in their mercenary financial dealings...

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Unseals Money Laundering Charge Against Former President of Guatemala

JAN 25 -- PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, PATRICIA J. HAYNES, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), and JOHN P. GILBRIDE, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New York Field Division ("DEA"), announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging ALFONSO PORTILLO, the former President of Guatemala, with conspiring to launder millions of dollars he embezzled from the Government of Guatemala through bank accounts located in the United States. PORTILLO remains at large. The United States is working closely with Guatemalan authorities on this matter. According to the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

PORTILLO served as the President of Guatemala from January 14, 2000, to January 14, 2004. In that capacity, he embezzled tens of millions of dollars worth of public funds, a substantial portion of which he laundered through American and European bank accounts.

PORTILLO misappropriated public money in at least three different ways:

First, in 2000 and 2002, PORTILLO embezzled approximately $2.5 million dollars provided by the Government of Taiwan's Embassy in Guatemala. In 2000, the Taiwanese Embassy issued three checks totaling $1.5 million, drawn upon a New York bank account created for the purpose of a Guatemalan program designed to purchase books for school libraries, Bibliotecas ParaLa Paz ("Libraries for Peace"). PORTILLO endorsed these checks and caused them to be deposited in a bank account in Miami, Florida. None of the money from the Government of Taiwan was applied towards the Libraries for Peace program; almost $1 million of the donation was ultimately diverted, through a series of transactions and transfers intended to conceal the source and origin of the funds, to bank accounts in the name of PORTILLO's former wife and daughter at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ("BBVA") in Paris, France. The money transferred into the BBVA Accounts was further laundered through financial institutions in Luxembourg and Switzerland, among other places.

Second, in 2001, PORTILLO embezzled approximately 30 million Quetzales (equivalent at that time to approximately $3.9 million) from the Guatemalan Ministry of Defense. PORTILLO arranged for this money to be delivered to one of Guatemala's national banks, Credito Hipocaterio Nacional ("CHN"), to which PORTILLO previously had appointed as the bank's president a coconspirator ("CC-1"). With the assistance of CC-1, PORTILLO directed the disbursement of the military funds to, among other things, finance a private land deal, disguise a loan to an associate, and issue checks to a company controlled by another co-conspirator. That co-conspirator then transferred, through a Miami bank account, a portion of that money to the BBVA accounts controlled by PORTILLO's former wife and daughter. Finally, from approximately 2000 through 2003, PORTILLO misappropriated funds from the publicly financed reserves of CHN.

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