"
(Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD),
"Report on Money Laundering Typologies 1999-2000," Financial Action
Task Force, FATF-XI, February 3, 2000, at
http://www.oecd.org/fatf/pdf/TY2000_en.pdf )
Hawala networks closely feed into Islamic banks throughout the world
and to commodity trading in South Asia. There are more than 200
Islamic banks in the USA alone and many thousands in Europe, North
and South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states (especially in the
free zone of Dubai and in Bahrain), Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia,
and other South East Asian countries. By the end of 1998, the overt
(read: tip of the iceberg) liabilities of these financial
institutions amounted to 148 billion US dollars. They dabbled in
equipment leasing, real estate leasing and development, corporate
equity, and trade/structured trade and commodities financing
(usually in consortia called "Mudaraba").
While previously confined to the Arab peninsula and to south and
east Asia, this mode of traditional banking became truly
international in the 1970's, following the unprecedented flow of
wealth to many Moslem nations due to the oil shocks and the
emergence of the Asian tigers. Islamic banks joined forces with
corporations, multinationals, and banks in the West to finance oil
exploration and drilling, mining, and agribusiness.
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