It’s the first lesson of white-collar prosecution 101 — yet there are serious questions whether David Weiss, the recently appointed “special prosecutor” in charge of the Hunter Biden corruption probe, performed that simple task.
If Weiss failed, it could be a greater crime than anything Donald Trump has done. In fact, white-collar attorneys tell me it suggests one of the biggest coverups since Watergate at the highest levels of the US government.
The most damaging stuff on Hunter’s laptop weren’t all those photos of Hunter doing drugs and hanging out naked with hookers.
Instead, it’s the paper trail of his manifold business entities that served as vehicles for his influence-peddling with shady foreign partners.
Hunter made a lot of money representing himself to these people as an expert in oil or whatever else he was touting.
As we all know, his real value was his last name and access to one of the most powerful people in the world, his dad, Sleepy Joe Biden.
It should be a prosecutor’s wet dream: The target, a ne’er-do-well son of a big-name politician, is running a string of suspicious, multimillion-dollar outfits and taking in bundles of cash from China, Ukraine, Russia and God knows where else.
A federal judge in Delaware dismissed tax misdemeanor charges against first son Hunter Biden.
The sordid mess caught the attention of the FBI after the target’s laptop was turned over to the feds.
Joe Biden, VP to Obama at the time, was investigating corruption in Ukraine, while Hunter was working with the Ukrainian oil company Burisma, itself investigated for bribery.
Emails from the target suggest he needs to pay off his old man, aka the “Big Guy,” when deals are done.
Banks, meanwhile, are always suspicious that money is being laundered and/or used in nefarious schemes.
In this case, the target’s activities left a paper trail miles long because he’s dealing in big bucks.
Transactions above $10,000, particularly those with overseas entities, are closely monitored by major banks under a variety of laws.
Shah highlighted that there was no bandh and curfew or blockade for any day during the last six years of the BJP government in Manipur. (Photo: YouTube/Sansad TV)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition is “politically motivated” and seeks to create confusion among people while underlining that the Parliament and the citizens have trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking during the discussion on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Shah said the Modi government has taken more than 50 landmark decisions in the last nine years.
“There is no question of the minority. There is also belief in the people. 60 crore poor people got new energy in their lives because of the Narendra Modi government. NDA was elected twice with the majority. After 30 years, a majority and stable government was formed,” he said.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi moved the no-confidence motion against the BJP-led government in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Shah said Narendra Modi is the most popular prime minister in India since independence. “Without taking any leave, if there is any PM who works for 17 hours in a day, that is Narendra Modi,” he added.
The Home Minister said PM Modi has dismantled corruption, dynasty politics and appeasement and gave importance to the politics of performance.
Shah said Rs 25 lakh crore was sent to bank accounts of poor people without any commission while slamming Congress over corruption.
In a veiled attack on Rahul Gandhi, Shah said there is one member in this House who has been launched 13 times in politics. “This member failed all 13 times. I have seen one launching when he went to meet a poor lady from Bundelkhand named Kalavati. But what did you do for her? House, ration, and electricity were provided to her by the Modi government,” he said.
Shah said PM Modi received the highest honours of 14 nations and added it is respect of 130 crore people of India.
Shah said India conducted surgical strikes in 2016 and air strikes in 2019 across the border. Earlier terrorists used to kill Indian soldiers during the UPA tenure, he said.
The Home Minister said the road connectivity is now till the last village of India.
He said that the Modi-led government saved 130 crore people from Coronavirus by administering both doses of vaccines free of cost.
Shah said that PM Modi abrogated Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. He said stone-pelting incidents have stopped. He said 1.80 lakh tourists visited Kashmir last year and pointed out theatres opened in the valley after 33 years.
Shah ruled out any dialogue with Pakistan as well as the Hurriyat Conference but said the government can hold talks with the youth of the Kashmir valley.
He said that the Centre banned PFI in the country and conducted raids at over 90 locations in the country.
Shah said that 152 people were killed in Manipur violence and 14,898 people were arrested, and 1,106 FIRs were registered.
The CBI is investigating allegations that the liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government last year gave undue advantages to private retailers.
Arvind Kejriwal Summoned By CBI In Delhi Liquor Policy Case On Sunday: 10 Points
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by the CBI for questioning over alleged corruption in the capital’s now-scrapped alcohol sales policy that led to the arrest of his deputy Manish Sisodia in February, sources have told NDTV.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has asked Mr Kejriwal to appear for questioning on Sunday, sources said, making it the first instance in recent memory where a Chief Minister has been summoned by the central agency in an investigation.
Sources in the agency said they have uncovered fresh evidence and have grounds to question the Chief Minister now. They said the date was set for Sunday so that it does not disrupt the Chief Minister’s work.
Arvind Kejriwal is yet to comment on the CBI’s move but in the past has said, “There is no such thing as a liquor scam”. The AAP has dismissed the charges as “vendetta” and efforts by the BJP, which governs at the centre, to target one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most vocal critics.
“Not a single leader of the AAP will be intimidated by these motivated charges. Many of our ministers, leaders and members have been targeted in the past. Our fight against the most corrupt government of PM Modi will go on,” senior party leader Sanjay Singh said.
The CBI is probing allegations that the liquor policy implemented by the Delhi government last year, which ended government control over the sale of liquor in the capital, gave undue advantages to private retailers.
Alleging the involvement of the “highest levels” of Mr Kejriwal’s government in the swindle, the agency has claimed crores in kickbacks were paid for favours in the policy and funnelled into his Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election campaign in Goa last year.
Manish Sisodia’s arrest in February was the highest-profile arrest in the case so far. The following month, he was arrested while still in jail by the country’s financial crime-fighting agency Enforcement Directorate, which is probing allegations of money laundering in the case.
Al Jazeera investigation reveals a well-known money launderer as a previously missing link in the Gupta state capture.
One of South Africa’s biggest money launderers was behind three companies that played a key role in the country’s state capture by the controversial Gupta brothers under former President Jacob Zuma, Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has found.
The three companies, Varlozone, Zokubyte and Coral General Traders, were identified by the Zondo Commission — an investigation set up by the South African government — as conduits used for fraud and the capture of state funds by a small group of South African politicians and businessmen.
Yet the investigators appointed by the Zondo Commission were unable to identify who managed these companies and transferred looted South African money abroad on behalf of the Guptas.
Now, documents obtained by Al Jazeera show that the person behind Varlozone, Coral General Trading and Zokubyte was Mohamed Khan, also known as Mo Dollars, a well-known South African money launderer.
“That payment was done by Mohamed,” whistleblower Dawood Khan, Mohamed’s brother and former employee, told Al Jazeera.
State capture is a form of corruption where a small group of people influences the decision-making process of a state for personal gain. South Africa’s current government, under President Cyril Ramaphosa, has accused two brothers of the Gupta family of businessmen — which became synonymous with state capture under Zuma — of plundering the country’s funds through a systematic web of corruption. The brothers were arrested last June in the United Arab Emirates. But last week, the UAE dismissed South Africa’s request that the Gupta siblings be extradited.
The new revelation, identifying Mohamed Khan as the previously missing link in the Gupta state capture case, is part of Gold Mafia, a four-part investigative series into several gold smuggling and money laundering gangs operating in Southern Africa.
Whatsapp messages between Mohamed Khan and a bribed bank officer, obtained by Al Jazeera, show how Zokubyte and Varlozone were used to launder money [Al Jazeera]Gupta brothers
The Zondo Commission was established in 2018 to investigate reports of state capture, corruption and fraud mainly by the Guptas, an influential South African family with Indian roots.
Since their arrival in South Africa in 1993, the Guptas managed to build a vast business empire and they eventually came to wield enormous influence in the country, allowing them to obtain large amounts of state funds that they laundered offshore.
As their power grew, the Guptas were awarded state contracts, allegedly bribed politicians and even had influence over ministerial appointments in Zuma’s government. Such was their clout that in 2013, they managed to use a South African military airport to bring hundreds of guests from India for a wedding, sparking a national controversy.
The money obtained in the state capture was sent abroad through a network of companies and eventually seemed to vanish. Zokubyte, Coral General Trading and Varlozone were all part of that network, dubbed “the spiderweb” by investigators.
Among the investigators appointed by the Zondo Commission was Paul Holden, an anti-money laundering expert. “We were basically looking at the flow of money into this network from the state capture and we knew it was going through a money laundering network,” he told Al Jazeera.
A breakthrough came when the commission was able to determine a direct link between the money from the state capture and the Guptas through transactions from South African company Varlozone to Dubai-based company Griffin Line General Trading.
Griffin Line General Trading was known to be controlled by the Guptas. But the owner of Varlozone, Shah Bukhari, was just a frontman. In reality, the company was run by Khan, a prolific money launderer who has worked for cigarette don and gold smuggler Simon Rudland, helping him transfer more than $100m abroad. Khan also bribed employees in several South African banks to help with the money laundering operation.
From South Africa to Hong Kong
Documents obtained by Al Jazeera show that money was moved from several companies to the accounts of Varlozone and Zokubyte. Varlozone then moved $1.8m of state capture money offshore over six months. Zokubyte laundered at least $600,000 of funds looted from the state. Coral General Traders acted as a pooling account — where money from multiple accounts can be kept temporarily — for funds to be moved offshore.
The money was sent abroad through a process called “merchanting”, which involves the creation of fake invoices to suggest that the transfer of funds is an advance payment for goods to be imported. No goods are actually ever sent, and companies at both ends of the chain — those invoicing for products meant to be sent, and those ostensibly buying these imports — are controlled by the same individuals.
The invoices mostly came from Hong Kong-based front companies, some of which were owned by Khan as well.
All three companies made these payments through Sasfin Bank, one of the banks where Khan had bribed employees, including Hussain Choonara, who was in charge of Sasfin Bank’s foreign exchange payments at the time.
