IELR editor-in-chief Bruce Zagaris has written an article for Tax Notes International, titled U.S. Senate’s Passage of Anti-Tax-Haven Provisions Would Be Counterproductive.  Read the full article here.

On April 11, 2012, the European Commission issued a report on the application of Directive 2005/60/EC on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

On April 10, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Britain can extradite five suspects to the United States to face terrorism charges.  The individuals had challenged the extradition by claiming that life imprisonment in a U.S. maximum security facility amounted to a violation of their human rights. The conditions in U.S. prisons, according to the ECHR, did not constitute inhumane or degrading treatment.  

On April 5, 2012, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a cease and desist order against Citibank, N.A., Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its underlying regulations.

The order requires the bank to take comprehensive corrective actions to improve its BSA compliance program.

The Swiss Government has issued arrest warrants for 3 German tax officials accused of stealing a CD containing information on possible tax evaders.  Switzerland is also demanding the extradition of the officials, though the German government is unlikely to cooperate.  The information contained on the CD has led to over 1,000 prosecutions of potential German tax-evaders who were using Swiss banks.

Since 2009, the Palestinian Minister of Government has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to extend their jurisdiction to Israel's alleged war crimes in Gaza.  However, Palestine's lack of statehood prevents it from bringing cases to the ICC.  This week, the ICC Chief Prosecutor stated that the question of Palestine's statehood is one for the UN, not the ICC.  The ICC has declined to pursue an investigation into alleged war crimes commited by Israel against Palestine in 2002.

On March 29, 2012, the U.S. Senate improved potential for U.S. international tax enforcement by confirming the nominations of . the confirmation of Kathryn Keneally as Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division and Michael E. Horowitz as Inspector General for the Justice Department as well as approving the income tax treaty with Hungary and the protocols to the income tax treaties with Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The World Bank has released a report, Justice for Forests: Improving Criminal Justice Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging, which details how law enforcement can effectively prevent illegal logging by tracing the illegal profits of logging rather than focusing solely on local prevention.  The report outlines part of the problem, in that the massive profits stemming from illegal logging are used to pay off local officials and politicans.  The report also cites organized criminal groups as those chiefly responsible for illegal logging operations, and notes that they can most effectively be targeted through money laundering investigations.

The entire report is available here.