Winer was just one of many voices at the 16th International Symposium on Economic Crime here to raise the spectre of criminals destabilising economies through their ability to shift money around the world at ever increasing speeds. Raymond Kelly, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, told the five-day conference his agency had scored important victories against Colombian drugs barons by targeting the cash they try to export from the U.S., increasingly in bulk operations. But these successes meant such criminals were simply turning to improved technology to stay ahead of the law. More sophisticated players will look to new advanced technology.
Money laundering is at the heart of the criminal empire.
Nigeria, a country which has often been accused of being a haven for fraudsters and a hot-bed of corruption, used the conference to point out that steps it took to stamp out fraud were of little value if investors were not more savvy. This view was shared by the City of London's top law man. He also called for a complete end to bank secrecy, eliminating different treatments for offshore transactions, seizing assets, attaching conditions of regulatory reform and law enforcement to IMF loans and increased transparency.