Still, such legislation is highly ineffective. The American Bankers'
Association puts the cost of compliance with the laxer anti-money-
laundering laws in force in 1998 at 10 billion US dollars - or more
than 10 million US dollars per obtained conviction. Even when the
system does work, critical alerts drown in the torrent of reports
mandated by the regulations. One bank actually reported a suspicious
transaction in the account of one of the September 11 hijackers -
only to be ignored.
The Treasury Department established Operation Green Quest, an
investigative team charged with monitoring charities, NGO's, credit
card fraud, cash smuggling, counterfeiting, and the Hawala networks.
This is not without precedent. Previous teams tackled drug money,
the biggest money laundering venue ever, BCCI (Bank of Credit and
Commerce International), and ... Al Capone. The more veteran, New-
York based, El-Dorado anti money laundering Task Force (established
in 1992) will lend a hand and share information.
More than 150 countries promised to co-operate with the US in its
fight against the financing of terrorism - 81 of which (including
the Bahamas, Argentina, Kuwait, Indonesia, Pakistan, Switzerland,
and the EU) actually froze assets of suspicious individuals,
suspected charities, and dubious firms, or passed new anti money
laundering laws and stricter regulations (the Philippines, the UK,
Germany).
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