[ALBSA-Info] Organized crime in Greece and Albania

[Agron Alibali]

Kathimerini
FRONT PAGE Updated: 12/23/2000 8:59 GMT 
 

Organized crime threat in SE Europe
U.S. names Greece, Cyprus

Thousands of islands, the long Aegean and Ionian
coastlines, borders with Turkey and three other Balkan
countries, a dynamic banking sector and policing that
is often inadequate have gradually turned Greece into
a hub of criminal activity in the region, a U.S.
report claimed yesterday. It also criticized Cyprus
for the offshore companies that provide a cover for
money laundering.
The report on international organized crime was drawn
up by the departments of State, Justice, the Treasury
and other services at the instructions of President
Bill Clinton. It found that organized crime is a
threat to democratic governments and the free
functioning of the global economy, raising the need
for more effective ways to combat it.

The report stressed the role played by Turkey and
Albania in money laundering (which is helped by the
lack of adequate legislation), drug trafficking and
the smuggling of arms, illegal immigrants and
cigarettes from Asia to the West.

Italian rackets are powerful in Greece, with turnover
from contraband cigarettes coming to $50 million a
year. Greek authorities are also worried by Russian
criminal gangs operating in Greece which, apart from
the above-mentioned crimes, are involved in the flesh
trade, the report said. It added that Greece estimates
that criminals make annual profits of $11.5 billion
within the country. The U.S. report represents Cyprus
as a smuggling and money-laundering haven, noting that
of 24,000 companies ostensibly based there, only 1,100
have a physical presence on the island republic. As a
tax haven, it charged, it attracts large amounts of
dirty money. Nicosia reacted furiously to the report,
with Foreign Minister Ioannis Cassoulides saying he
would protest to the United States. He met with U.S.
Ambassador Donald Bandler yesterday. "Is it worthwhile
for Cyprus to cooperate with the United States when,
without restraint and without reason, we are accused
over matters which we have made so many efforts about,
and so much progress on?" Cassoulides asked. 

He charged that American banks were not making any
effort to control money laundering, leaving Cypriot
banks with the job of clearing up the situation.
 
 


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