Posted on 07/23/2004 2:01:13 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen won't let go of the mystery: Just where did the Cuban government get up to $3.9 billion it funneled through a Swiss bank over seven years.
Was Havana simply, as it claims, banking its income from tourism and remittances that Cubans abroad send to their relatives on the island? Or was dirty money involved?
Ros-Lehtinen, the Cuban-born Florida Republican, wants to know, and she has been badgering officials of the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS) and the U.S. Federal Reserve for answers.
''That's an awful lot of money,'' Ros-Lehtinen told The Herald.
According to the latest answers she received from UBS officials Wednesday, Havana delivered up to $3.9 billion in U.S. currency to UBS in 1,900 transactions from 1996 to April 2003 for deposit to one Cuban government bank account at UBS.
In a statement published last month in the state-run Granma newspaper, the government said the cash was ``obtained from sales in the hard-currency stores, tourism-related activities and other commercial services in foreign banks.''
According to Cuban government figures, its revenues from tourism and hard-currency stores -- where goods are sold for U.S. dollars, mostly to Cubans who receive remittances from abroad -- amounted in 2002-03 alone to about $2 billion.
Ros-Lehtinen has her doubts about the source of the funds, and has requested a full briefing in September from UBS officials.
''Given the . . . significant amount of money we are dealing with, it is doubtful that these . . . funds derived from tourism but, rather, could have stemmed from one of Castro's nefarious activities, such as drug trafficking,'' she said in a July 12 letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
NEW YORK INQUIRY
Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Carlos Zarate told The Herald Thursday that the U.S. attorney's office in New York is investigating a ''potential nexus out of New York'' with the Cuba-UBS deal, but declined to go into details.
The tale of Cuba's dealings with UBS started within another mystery: the $762 million in U.S. cash that American troops in Iraq found in hide-outs linked to Saddam Hussein.
The cash was traced to several foreign banks, including UBS, that had been contracted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to exchange new U.S. dollars for worn-out bills being taken out of circulation. The program is known as the Extended Custodial Inventory.
But the ECI agreement specifically barred the foreign banks from doing business with countries under U.S. sanctions.
ILLEGAL TRANSFER
Although U.S. investigators who examined the Iraqi hoard determined the banks had not sent U.S. cash directly to Baghdad, they discovered UBS had illegally transferred about $5 billion to Cuba, Libya, Iran and the former Yugoslavia.
The Federal Reserve Board canceled its contract with UBS last year and in May fined it $100 million for the violations.
Still unclear is why UBS employees violated the U.S. regulations, and then tried to conceal the Cuban deals by altering the bank's records. No one has so far been charged with any crimes.
The majority of the transactions with Cuba took place from 1996, when the Federal Reserve contracted UBS for the ECI program, through April 2003, said Yleem Poblete, staff director for the House International Relations subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, which Ros-Lehtinen chairs.
The cash was deposited into a Cuban government account at UBS opened before the Federal Reserve contracted UBS, Poblete added.
Clinton?? Same as the Taliban getting $10-20 million per year??
Cuba had been a trans-shippment point for many years. Castro purged and killed some of his top Generals he had running the deal a few years back. He found that they had sticky fingers. Rumor has it that the Swiss accounts were opened by one of them, Fidel just took over the deposits and control when he executed el general.
And here I thoughts the Federal Reserve sent all the worn out bills to MY island...
BUMP
Let's say Castro did get his money from drug dealing or maybe it was another "loan" from France. What would motivate USB violate US regulations? Who/what exactly is USB?
Tourist money? Drug money? The big question: why isn't Castro using the almost $4 billion to help the beleaguered people of Cuba, who live well below the poverty line?
Answer: If the condition of Cuba's people improves, Castro willl have to stop blaming the USA for poverty.
I wonder whether this $3.9 billion is in addition to the $1 billion Forbes magazine reported Castro has tucked away in Swiss banks.
Drug dealing, but also I'm almost sure that all the baseball players that 'escaped' from cuba during the 90's, and for the past 3 years, who are now making millions in our MLB, deposit money for papa fidel in foreign banks.
NEW YORK INQUIRY
Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Carlos Zarate told The Herald Thursday that the U.S. attorney's office in New York is investigating a ''potential nexus out of New York'' with the Cuba-UBS deal, but declined to go into details.
The tale of Cuba's dealings with UBS started within another mystery: the $762 million in U.S. cash that American troops in Iraq found in hide-outs linked to Saddam Hussein.
The cash was traced to several foreign banks, including UBS, that had been contracted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to exchange new U.S. dollars for worn-out bills being taken out of circulation. The program is known as the Extended Custodial Inventory.
But the ECI agreement specifically barred the foreign banks from doing business with countries under U.S. sanctions.
ILLEGAL TRANSFER
Although U.S. investigators who examined the Iraqi hoard determined the banks had not sent U.S. cash directly to Baghdad, they discovered UBS had illegally transferred about $5 billion to Cuba, Libya, Iran and the former Yugoslavia.
The Federal Reserve Board canceled its contract with UBS last year and in May fined it $100 million for the violations.
Still unclear is why UBS employees violated the U.S. regulations, and then tried to conceal the Cuban deals by altering the bank's records. No one has so far been charged with any crimes.
The majority of the transactions with Cuba took place from 1996, when the Federal Reserve contracted UBS for the ECI program, through April 2003, said Yleem Poblete, staff director for the House International Relations subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, which Ros-Lehtinen chairs.
DECEMBER 2006 : (FUTURE OBAMA CAMPAIGN BUNDLER ROBERT WOLF- PRESIDENT OF THE SWISS UBS BANK & CHAIRMAN OF UBS AMERICAS- MEETS OBAMA IN A CONFERENCE ROOM OWNED BY GEORGE SOROS) According to campaign reporter John Heilemann, Obama and Wolf first met in December 2006 in a conference room owned by liberal billionaire George Soros. . .(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...------Obama’s Swiss Banker, The WASHIGTON FREE BEACON ^ | April 24, 2012 | By Andrew Stiles http://freebeacon.com/obamas-swiss-banker/ Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 7:00:35 PM by Brad from Tennessee
USB Switzerland ping
From the link: “According to Cuban government figures, its revenues from tourism and hard-currency stores — where goods are sold for U.S. dollars, mostly to Cubans who receive remittances from abroad — amounted in 2002-03 alone to about $2 billion.”
Dollars entering Cuba don't accumulate. Cuba has imported food and agricultural products from the U.S. since 2000 and must pay cash on delivery. This totals more than $4 billion. They buy U.S. pharmacuticals and other U.S. products through third parties who often require U.S. currency.
Cuba has long been a transhipment site for South American narcotics entering the U.S. These services could account for the USB money as the Castro brothers would want to keep these receipts off the books.
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