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37 IELR 375 (2021)
Financial Confidentiality, Money Laundering and Bank Secrecy

handle is hein.journals/ielr37 and id is 398 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL ENFORCEMENT LAW REPORTER - Volume 37, Issue 10 never been anywhere near the church on the night of the massacre. 12 Since his return to Liberia in 2020, Thomas has reportedly sought to identify and intimidate potential witnesses against him. The Philadelphia Inquirer quotes Alain Werner, a Geneva-based lawyer who has worked with Liberian war crime victims to bring perpetrators to justice, as stating Thomas has a relatively high influence in Liberia, since many former soldiers under his command hold relatively high positions in Liberia's security forces. 13 Nushin Sarkarati, an attorney with the Center for Justice & Accountability (CJA) and one of the lawyers representing the Liberian plaintiffs in the case, said rather than the money, the plaintiffs want a historical record for the abuses and the court to recognize the wrongdoing. 14 Representing the plaintiffs are the Global Justice and Research Project and the CJA working with U.S. law firms Debevoise & Plimpton and Blank Rome. The case is an example of how non- governmental organizations partner with law firms, who work on a pro bono basis, to bring civil prosecutions for international human rights violations. The plaintiffs' memorandum opinion and subsequent efforts to enforce the judgment will likely educate the public in Liberia and the rest of the world about 12 Jeremy Roebuck, A Declo man hid his role in the massacre of 600 of Liberians for decades. A U.S. court just gave his victims a short at justice, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, Sept. 17, 2021. 13 Id. 14 Id. the alleged atrocities. The case will likely exert pressure on the Liberian government to enforce the judgment. Since Liberia relies substantially on assistance from foreign governments and international organizations, which have prioritized accountability for the atrocities, these donors will likely also be sources of pressure on the Liberian government. The case illustrates how foreign tribunals can help adjudicate crimes against humanity and war crimes, since they confer universal jurisdiction. As a result, foreign tribunals play an invaluable role when the courts in which these crimes occur are unable or unwilling to adjudicate them.. They bring the victims a sense of justice and impose some accountability of the alleged perpetrators while establishing a record for society where the events occurred. It will be worthwhile to watch efforts to enforce the judgment once the court determines the damages in this case. II. FINANCIAL CONFIDENTIALITY, MONEY LAUNDERING AND BANK SECRECY 10th Basel AML Index Highlights Four Worrying Gaps In Global Anti-Money Laundering Efforts By Kateyna Boguslavska' 1 Kateryna Boguslavska is Project Manager of the Basel AML Index at the Basel Institute on Governance. The 10th Public Edition of the Basel AML Index was released on September 13, 2021. The Basel AML Index is an independent assessment and ranking of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks around the world, published by the Basel Institute on Governance since 2012 through its International Centre for Asset Recovery. The accompanying report questions whether jurisdictions are serious about tackling their ML/TF risks, given this year's slight increase in the average global ML/TF risk score from 5.22 to 5.30 out of 10. It also highlights four specific areas of concern, relating to: virtual assets, beneficial ownership transparency, designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs), and preventive measures. Virtual assets The report highlights that while virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies have several positive characteristics, they are vulnerable to being abused to conceal the proceeds of crime, launder money, or evade taxes. To mitigate this, jurisdictions must speed up effective implementation of the revised FATF Recommendation (R.) 15, which sets standards for how jurisdictions should address ML/TF risks relating to virtual assets and virtual asset service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges. The Basel AML Index's analysis of data in relation to the revised R.15 reveals that most jurisdictions assessed or re-assessed in the last year have worsened their scores for technical compliance. Average compliance levels globally have dropped from 70 to 60 percent. Poor implementation of R.15 by individual jurisdictions raises the risk of 'regulator shopping', whereby criminals simply channel illicit funds through jurisdictions with weak oversight and enforcement. The 375

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