Posted on 03/20/2002 7:52:49 AM PST by Nita Nupress
Ted Maher -- former Special Forces; Neonatal Intensive Care nurse
American Green Beret veteran and accomplished neonatal nurse Ted Maher has now been held 537 days without trial in Monaco's prison on trumped-up and false charges -- charges of causing the deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and Ted's fellow nurse, Vivian Torrente on December 3, 1999. In truth, Ted fought valiantly against two armed, masked intruders to defend Edmond and Vivian and save their lives. During the struggle, Ted suffered severe knife wounds that required one hundred staples to close.
Billionaire banker Edmond Safra was cooperating with the FBI, who was investigating the IMF/Russian loans. Needing a convenient scapegoat for the murder of Safra, Monaco police subjected Ted to three days of grueling torture designed to extort a false confession from him. (see description in "BASIC TIMELINE" in Thread 1 - http://206.112.97.70/forum/a3ad8b097272d.htm ).
Monaco continues to hold Ted incommunicado, preventing him from sending or receiving mail. In fact, they restrict his communication with his family to one telephone call a week. This call is only allowed to last a few minutes and is always monitored closely to prevent any discussion of the case. Ted is forced by his jailers to take a psychotropic medication and is regularly "interrogated" by the Monaco judge -- Patricia Richet. Reports have been received that Judge Richet is a violent person who has displayed unstable behavior in the past. She allegedly has a history of assaulting a fellow judge, putting him in the hospital for a week. She also tears up letters from Ted's children in front of Ted rather than let him read them.
Hundreds of family, friends, work associates, parents of patients, and Army veterans who served with Ted have vouched for him as being a loyal husband, loving father, and an exemplary professional of great skill and compassion. Ted has also been defended by then-chairman of the House International Relations Committee Ben Gilman and Ted's congresswoman Sue Kelly, who have written Prince Rainier III of Monaco on Ted's behalf. Monaco has no evidence of any crime by Ted; they have no witnesses and no credible case against him. Even worse, Monaco has planted false evidence and suppressed vast amounts of exculpatory evidence -- even passing a special Monaco law that enables them to hold Ted four years without trial.
The Geneva prosecutor has said that Safra was killed for his cooperation with the FBI regarding the laundering through Safra's Republic National Bank of $4.8 billion in IMF loans to Russia.
Regardless of the reason "why," it is obvious that Ted Maher is a scapegoat for a murder by others. We are working to obtain his release and to correct the grave injustice being done to an American Green beret veteran and medical professional.
Ted Maher -- a giver of life, not a taker -- needs our help.
============================================
To read the "BASIC TIMELINE" that describes the events surrounding the night of December 3, 1999, click here:
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 498 Days and Counting... (Thread I)
To read the "BASIC TIMELINE
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 537 Days and Counting... (Thread II)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread III)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 615 Days and Counting... (second Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 629 Days and Counting... (Thread VI)
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 6) second thread 6"
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 10)
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Monaco Guest Book
(You can write in English on the French page and scroll down to read. Please note they have a tendency to delete messages regarding Ted - not "fairytale-correct.")
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 1999
From: Gideon Remez
Subject: Safra murder
Dear David,
Has anyone noticed the following detail in Bloomberg's report on the death of banker Edmond Safra in Monaco on Friday?
The entire top floor of the building -- which houses offices of Republic Bank, along with Paribas and Banque Du Gothard -- was gutted.
"Banque du Gothard" is the French form of the Italian "Banca del Gottardo." JRL readers hardly need a reminder what that is. Add that to Robert Friedman's report on Safra's Republic National Bank and its airlift of $100 bills to Russia (New York Magazine, Jan.22 1996); to Republic's implication in the Bank of New York affair (House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach's opening statement in hearing, Sept. 21 1999 and USA Today, August 26); to the fact that Safra, after taking heavy losses in Russia, was about to close the sale of Republic to the British HSBC at a considerable discount, which would presumably have given the buyers access to documentation of the above; and finally to the very Russian style of the killing itself -- and there is a very promising direction for the Monegasque police's investigation.
Gideon Remez
"Banque du Gothard" is the French form of the Italian "Banca del Gottardo."
This is one of the banks used to funnel kickbacks to Pavel Borodin in the Kremlin-Mebatex scandal. Pavel Borodin was arrested en route to the Bush innaugural, jailed in New York City, extradited to Switzerland, and bailed by Putin for $3 million. It has been suggested that Banca del Gottardo handled certain dealings Republic wished to avoid.
DATE=3/23/99
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-247030
TITLE=RUSSIA / CORRUPTION (L-ONLY)
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: RUSSIAN PROSECUTORS HAVE BEEN SEARCHING KREMLIN OFFICES FOR EVIDENCE IN A CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION. V-O-A'S EVE CONANT REPORTS FROM MOSCOW ON THE LATEST ROUND OF A HIGH-PROFILE BATTLE BETWEEN PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S OFFICE AND THE COUNTRY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR.
TEXT: A SPOKESMAN FOR RUSSIA'S PROSECUTOR GENERAL CONFIRMED (TUESDAY) THAT DOCUMENTS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S OFFICE. THE SEARCH IS PART OF AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE OPERATIONS OF A SWISS COMPANY, MABETEX, WHICH HAS WON LUCRATIVE CONTRACTS FROM THE KREMLIN TO RENOVATE OFFICIAL BUILDINGS IN RUSSIA.
LAST WEEK, THE BATTLE BETWEEN PROSECUTOR GENERAL YURI SKURATOV AND THE KREMLIN BROKE INTO THE OPEN WHEN RUSSIA'S UPPER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT REFUSED TO ACCEPT MR. SKURATOV'S RESIGNATION. MR. SKURATOV SAID HE OFFERED TO QUIT AFTER PEOPLE HE WAS INVESTIGATING TRIED TO BLACKMAIL HIM. MR. SKURATOV HAS NOW RESUMED HIS INVESTIGATION, AND VOWS TO ROOT OUT HIGH-LEVEL CORRUPTION DESPITE A POLITICAL AND SEXUAL SCANDAL SURROUNDING HIM.
REPORTS SAY HIS INVESTIGATION IS NOT LIKELY TO TOUCH PRESIDENT YELTSIN DIRECTLY. BUT MR. YELTSIN'S FAMILY, AND OFFICIALS CLOSE TO THE PRESIDENT, COULD BE QUESTIONED ABOUT THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE SWISS CONTRACTING FIRM.
MABETEX PROJECTS INCLUDE A KREMLIN RENOVATION COSTING NEARLY 170-MILLION DOLLARS. PAVEL BORODIN, ADMINISTRATIVE HEAD OF THE KREMLIN'S EMPIRE OF COUNTRY RESIDENCES, AIRCRAFT AND HOTELS, SAYS THERE IS NO WRONG-DOING (IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRESIDENT YELTSIN AND MABETEX).
/// BORODIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, ESTABLISH AND FADE UNDER ///
LET THEM CHECK, SAYS MR. BORODIN, "WE ARE ALWAYS CHECKED BY THE FINANCE AND TAX MINISTRIES." BUT HE ASKS WHY INVESTIGATORS SUDDENLY GAVE THIS INFORMATION TO THE MEDIA.
A MABETEX REPRESENTATIVE FLEW TO MOSCOW (TUESDAY) TO ISSUE A STRONG DENIAL OF ANY IMPROPER ACTIVITY, INCLUDING CLAIMS THAT THE SWISS COMPANY BUILT A COUNTRY RESIDENCE FOR PRESIDENT YELTSIN'S DAUGHTER AND PURCHASED TWO YACHTS FOR MR. YELTSIN (IN AN EFFORT TO CURRY FAVOR FOR FUTURE PROJECTS). MABETEX IS THREATENING TO SUE RUSSIA'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR IF HE PURSUES THE CASE.
/// REST OPT ///
THE MABETEX DENIAL COINCIDED WITH A VISIT TO MOSCOW OF SWISS ATTORNEY GENERAL CARLA DEL PONTE. SHE IS DISCUSSING THE MABETEX CASE WITH PROSECUTOR GENERAL SKURATOV.
(SIGNED)
NEB/EC/JWH/WTW
23-Mar-99 10:48 AM EST (1548 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
When tracking down the terrorist money trail, Washington will inevitably wind up in Switzerland. Swiss banks have long been used by shady characters worldwide to launder money. One of them, writes PNS contributor Lucy Komisar, might be a good starting point for U.S. investigators seeking terrorist funding sources and illicit bioweapons trade. Komisar (lkomisar@msn.com) is a New York journalist who writes on offshore bank and corporate secrecy and money-laundering.
GENEVA--To protect America from terrorist attack, the United States must investigate illicit trade in biological weapons and trace the movement of terrorist money. A good starting point is a controversial Swiss bank that may have facilitated the sale of hazardous biological materials to Islamic militants.
The bank, Banca del Gottardo in Lugano, appears to have handled one or more sales from a known Russian biological weapons producer to a Swiss company with links to several radical Islamic groups.
The bank denies involvement, and no document has appeared which might confirm an illicit bioweapons trade. Nevertheless, an examination of documents here, interviews and other sources raise enough red flags to suggest that those tracing terror money might look closely at such deals.
A December 1993 list of contracts with the Interplastica company obtained by this reporter lists a $20 million purchase of "injectables" by Biopreparat, the Russian state developer of biological weapons. According to two former Soviet Biopreparat insiders, bioweapons production at the plant was hidden under the cover of pharmaceutical work.
Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, who was the administrative head of Biopreparat, defected to Britain in 1989 and revealed to British intelligence the true nature of Biopreparat. Dr. Kenneth Alibek, a former deputy director of Biopreparat who also defected and came to the United States in 1992, told the same to the CIA.
Biopreparat since at least 1973 carried out offensive biological weapons research, development and production. It produced and stockpiled hundreds of tons of anthrax and dozens of tons of plague and smallpox.
Interplastica is registered in Switzerland as an engineering and trading company dealing in chemicals and plastics. Founded in the 1960s, it specialized in helping the countries of the East bloc pierce Western embargoes.
From the early 1990s, the Banca del Gottardo exercised control over the indebted Interplastica through bank official Franco Peduzzi, according to a source in Switzerland familiar with the bank's operations. A fax message accompanying the list of contracts is addressed to Franco Peduzzi at the bank. In a phone call, Peduzzi denied knowledge of the company.
A September 1994 fax to the bank indicates that the Banca del Gottardo handled what appears to be another Interplastica deal with Biopreparat. The memo notes that "for our friends of Torola, 'Biopreparat' deposited through 'Interplastica¥' two cont. of 20 kg of material in the security box of the bank. P. Mamaladze advised -- ready for transaction [of] 'bonds.'"
Torola is a shell company registered in Lugano and run by several individuals of Georgian and Yugoslavian origin. One of them, Paata Guramovich Mamaladze, was identified by a source familiar with the contracts as a Georgian arms trafficker.
The rest of the document purports to be about "trade related claims against bonds." Biopreparat is not in the business of bond trading. The phrases referring to "bonds" are set apart in quotation marks throughout the document.
Franco Rogantini, spokesman for the bank in Lugano, said a bank investigation showed "no record of any commercial dealings with Biopreparat." The bank denied "having knowingly entered into business with weapon producers and traders."
The Banca del Gottardo has already been the object of legal inquiries in a Russian corruption and money-laundering case. A Swiss investigative magistrate accused Pavel Borodin, who managed Russian state property, of skimming $30 million from Russian government construction contracts. The Swiss dossier details how Beghjet Pacolli, a native of Kosovo and head of the Mabetex construction company, funneled payoffs to Borodin and other Russian officials, including Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his daughters.
The Banca del Gottardo held accounts for Borodin and other alleged culprits and moved money through its branch in the offshore secrecy haven of the Bahamas.
Pacolli ran Interplastica, and Pacolli is linked to radical Islamic groups. Pacolli finances the radically anti-Serb newspaper "Bota Sot," based in Zurich, which has been condemned for sowing "hate, intolerance and strife" by the head of the Kosovo mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Through the Fund for Reconstruction of Kosovo (FORK), in Lugano, he finances the Kosovo Liberation Army, or UCK, (known in the West as KLA) described by Robert Gelbard, America's former special envoy to Bosnia, as "Islamic terrorists." Europol (the European Police Organization) says the UCK is involved in drug and weapons trafficking, prostitution and illegal immigration.
Attempts to reach Pacolli through phone and e-mail messages to his Lugano headquarters, his Swiss residence, and Mabetex offices in Florida and Albania yielded only an e-mail response from Lugano: "Mr. Behgjet Pacolli worked for Interplastica till 1990 and there is absolutely no relation with what you mentioned in your e-mail. He does not know anything about it because he has left the company [a] long time before. Thanks for taking notice."
Interplastica is now in the process of liquidation. Renzo Peduzzi, listed in the government registry as a member of its board, refused to take a phone call.
Banca del Gottardo President Claudio Generali is a leader of the Radical Democratic Party, which governs Switzerland. The bank appears to enjoy protection from serious official scrutiny. Washington should encourage Swiss authorities to investigate.
Way to go, amom! Hugs!!!
President Bush: Please Bring Ted Maher Home From Banana-Republic Monaco!
Amen,..........More Grace and Mercy,............In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
I'm not exactly on a first-name basis with Bill O'Reilly, which is probably why he didn't return my email message. :-)
You may be right. But that's not going to stop this stubborn blonde wench from trying. Ted is a Green Beret. He's one of our own, and he's being treated unfairly.
Thanks for the bump, Texbob. Come around more often. :-)
A German newspaper report on the fire www.sonntagszeitung.ch/sz48/S19-5688.htm (12-05-99)
Fever-adhere to search for billionaire murders
The suspicion: Banker Safra of killers on behalf of the Russian Mafia shot Monaco - The police assumes that professional killers had attacked the banker Edmond Safra in its house. A French police officer said yesterday: "Monaco is proud of its Sicherheitstandard. Thus no small gangsters proceed. The attempted murder against a powerful Financier, which is accompanied by bodyguards constantly, points toward organized criminality." Possibly the Russian Mafia behind the assassination attempt puts.............................
AGAINST FIRST REPORTS THE FRENCH POLICE THAT SAFRA DOES NOT SUFFOCATE POSSIBLY IN THE SMOKE, SAID BUT SHOT IS. IT IN THE FIFTH STICK OF THE ATTIKAWOHNUNG IN THE PAJAMAS FOUND TOGETHER WITH THE LADY HOUSEKEEPER, WHO CARRIED A JOGGING DRESS. BOTH WERE DEAD."
This was in the December 5th, 1999 edition of the Sonntagszeitung newspaper. It has been stated over and over again that Mr. Safra was shot and there are papers stating that Vivian died of a crushed neck. Here are some comments from a forum - www.coteazur.de/forum/messages under "Monaco, paradis the Leugner and liar". This has been translated:
Sent by Gustav Kasmolski on 06 December, 1999, around 00:37:05 Monaco 5.12.99: differently than common in the newspapers by the faithful (however verlogenen) Monegasque pressedienst, Edmond Safra short hand was shot, before the Russian authors put fires and escaped. For a long time it had been warned, how already so often trustee-live in its long. One may do faith this Palastsesselpubsern anyway never!!
12-03-99 Wally: fox: the latest news on his death are quite conflicting and alarming. It seems that even the best security precautions would not have helped. I don't want to get into details, the info is available on most of the international news channels.
12-03-99 Lino: The Safra story is going to be a major "bestseller" His death was a "military commando operation" that killed about 8 people in his house (press is reporting 3). SAFRA WAS KILLED BEFORE THE FIRE. MY SOURCES ARE FRIENDS CLOSELY TO HIS FAMILY. My personal opinion is that irrenconciable sibling differences arised after the sale of RNB to HSBC.
Sent of Thomas's Maria count Walden on 28 December, 1999, around 10:25:02 Response up: I can only acknowledge! by Edwin count von Eierberg on 06 December, 1999, around 03:09:05: Now THE FOOLS ONE FORGOT THEMSELVES THAT THE POLICE RADIO ALWAYS TRANSMITTED ON THE MURDER DAY STILL TO 10:00 FROM A "ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT" ON SAFRA, ONLY AS ONE THE STORY AGAIN TO SAY (AND DAEMLICH) UEBERLEGTE COMPLETELY BEAUTIFULLY (SO AGAINST 9:45), THE POLICEMEN FORBIDDEN WITH (RADIO)VERKEHR THIS BAD WORD. NOW WAR'S AT ONE TIME A "ACCIDENT". THUS IT GOES IN THE LUEGENPARADIS, AND THE THREE BALLS IN THE HEADING AND BODY OF THE BANKER WERE HERAUSGEFUMMELT STILL BEFORE THE FEED, THE AUTOPSY REPORT WAS FALSIFIED AND THE BODY INTO A SEALED COFFIN TO GENEVA WAS SPENT. HELICOPTER MONACO LUGANO AND FURTHER WITH THE DELIVERY VAN. THE KRANKENPFLEGER IS DELIVERED NOW TO THE USA, SAYS THE PAPER, WHAT A MIRACLE!! ONLY ROOF IS STILL ANOTHER LITTLE BLACK FROM FIRE......
Sent by Arnoldo Funaro on 13 March, 2000 around 21:44:56 Response up: Luegen Paradis Monaco von Thomas Maria count Walden on 28 December, 1999, around 10:25:02: THE FOOLS FORGOT STILL MORE: HABENAM EINGESCHECKT. NONE SHE SAW THE BIEDEN RUSSIANS TO EVENING IN THE HERIMITAGE. THE SAMSONITE HAD A EXCOCET MISSILE AND THOSE HAS A LARGE HOLE THE APARTMENT OF THE PRINCE (RAINER) GERISSEN, BECAUSE THEY PENETRATED AND HAVE THE JEWISH BANKER ACCORDING TO MAFIA METHOD COMPLETELY SIMPLY WITH 3 BALLS INTO THE HEADING GETOETED. SO EASILY ONE CAN DIE. THE CORRUPT POLICE HAS EVERYTHING IN THE PROTOKOL HOWEVER NIX WHITE THE PUBLIC. THEN ONLY THE QUESTION REMAINS WHY GENEVA, AND FROM THE POSSIBLE DEATH DUTY RELEASED THE THEIR FISCALITEE OLD, BECAUSE HE WAS NO RESIDENT DE MONACO. WELL MADLY, THAT IS WHICH FOR THE PICTURE NEWSPAPER.....
These are from information that was posted in December 1999 about the Safra case. Right from the beginning, Monaco lied about everything. This all can be found on the internet. As you can see, one states that the autopsy was a lie. Who has the authority to exhume the body and see what Edmond Safra really died from? Shouldn't the defense lawyers for Ted Maher demand this? All the citizens of Monaco know the truth yet the police and all involved is covering it up.
What Ted Maher first stated was the truth. There were people there. He started a fire in a wastebasket to get the smoke alarm to go off (because the burglar alarm did not work - was turned off in July of 1999), was knifed (no nurse would ever knife himself in the stomach knowing it could kill him). He gave his own cellular phone to Vivian to call for help and ran down all those flights of stairs to get help and Vivian's first call came after he was down to the first floor. When would he have a chance to start these multiple fires?
This is all a farce and Monaco wants the world to accept this story and go on with life - leaving an innocent man in prison. The trial (if it ever happens) is a farce. What is the trial for? The fire report exonerates Ted Maher, the hospital report states Negative to drugs and alcohol, and Safra was killed with bullets - not smoke. There was no smoke damage to the room - not enough to kill them. Then if he was shot and she had a crushed neck, these phone calls never existed between Safra, his wife, and Sonja. Hmm - very interesting!!!!!!!!
FREE YOUR SCAPEGOAT MONACO
FREE TED MAHER - HE IS INNOCENT
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/650151/posts?q=1&&page=251
Bill O'Reilly
I have your great book The No-Spin Zone.
Here's an outrage of an honorable Green Beret veteran held 858 days without trial on an extorted false confession in the death of billionaire Edmond Safra. Many intriguing links.
Phil Dragoo
phildragoo@att.net
Amen,...........More Grace and Mercy,.............In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
President Bush: Please Bring Ted Maher Home From Banana-Republic Monaco!
Amen,..........More Grace and Mercy,..........In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
Paris Finds Breaking the Bank in Monte Carlo a Tough Deal By Joseph Fitchett International Herald Tribune December 01, 2000
By any measure, France should have no trouble putting a stop to money laundering in Monaco, the minuscule playground for the rich tucked into the French Riviera. After all, France controls almost every aspect of government in the principality, including the appointment of Monaco's prime minister, who is always French.
But Monaco and its long-ruling Prince Rainier III are waging a "Mouse That Roared" defense against France's demands for greater transparency in the banking system and other financial operations, including the famed Monte Carlo casino. Even if France eventually prevails, its fierce, often hidden little war with Monaco illustrates how hard it can be to impose new global financial standards. If Monaco is fighting back, it is because the principality wants to protect its thriving financial activities - at last count, it boasted 45 banks with 200,000 accounts belonging to nonresidents - which generate more than a third of national revenues. People close to the 77-year-old prince say he thinks Paris has made tactical miscalculations that he can exploit to turn the tables on France and improve Monaco's fortunes.
Paris has powerful political reasons to make Monaco change its financial ways. In portraying itself as a leader in the crusade against abuses, the Socialist government in France hopes to blunt domestic complaints that globalization is making a few people very rich and creating hardships for most French people. For this, France has to clean up its own backyard. The French also aim to pressure Britain to move against Guernsey and other Channel Islands widely viewed as havens for hiding hot money, including money hidden from French tax authorities.
Behind the drumbeat of French complaints are underlying murmurs in Paris and other European capitals that the Russian Mafia might take over Monaco's banking system. Prince Rainier "may be losing control" to mobsters, said a French Finance Ministry official, who agreed to discuss the subject on the condition that he not be identified. But France also has a hidden agenda: It wants to curtail Monaco's role as a magnet for tax evaders. For generations, Europe's rich have stashed money in Monaco - and in similar tax havens such as Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstein - as a way of avoiding punitive taxation rates.
Until now, France has largely condoned Monaco's financial system. Monaco's French residents have been subjected to French income taxes since a showdown with Paris in 1962. But no other residents pay taxes on income or even on interest, and none of the quarter-million offshore accounts held by people outside Monaco are taxed. France's tolerance has suddenly changed, officials said, partly because Monaco wants to join the euro, the single currency of key countries in the European Union. Once in, Monaco would be in an even stronger position to help criminals funnel dirty money into the Western economy.
The EU has also started moving to end banking secrecy among its 15 member states involving taxable income in nonresident accounts. That change was sought by France, which feels penalized in international competition by its comparatively high tax rates, but banking secrecy will only diminish if tax havens such as Monaco fall into line. But France's attempt to lump tax evasion with money laundering is meeting resistance because the banking industry and law enforcement authorities in Europe see money laundering as a much more serious crime. Tax evasion, while illegal, is usually not a felony in Europe. As a result, Monaco has never felt obliged to order its banks to name depositors in connection with tax problems in other countries.
Monaco's champions insist that Prince Rainier can capitalize on this distinction, which has been muted in a French campaign that has turned a harsh spotlight on the principality. First came a French parliamentary report, issued by Arnaud Montebourg, 42, a hard-line Socialist. His report last summer assailed Monaco as a well-oiled machine for money laundering. The Socialist government, not wanting to be outflanked by radicals within its ranks, produced its own reports from the finance and justice ministries. The unusual public onslaught provoked cries of "foul" from Prince Rainier and a vague threat to seek greater independence.
Monaco's counterattack has now been outlined to the International Herald Tribune by a key Rainier strategist, Jean Pierre Francois, a 78-year-old international banker with connections to the Socialist Party in France who is a resident of both Paris and Monte Carlo. In an interview, he said that he had been "encouraged" by Prince Rainier to intervene with decision-makers in both countries and with the media to lay out Monaco's case. Mr. Francois rejected the main thrust of French accusations as "silly nonsense" that could not stand up to serious professional scrutiny. Mr. Francois has not been alone in voicing doubts about the parliamentary report: Conservative French parliamentarians in Mr. Montebourg's mission dissociated themselves from its conclusions as overdrawn and one-sided.
Denouncing the French campaign as hypocritical, Mr. Francois noted the reach of French civil servants in the principality's inner workings and said that Paris "knows about and can control anything it wants in Monaco's financial dealings." As for the Russian mafia, he said, "These people thrive all over the French Riviera, so they have no interest in trying to worm their way into a tightly policed place like Monaco." Even some officials in Paris agree privately that Russian mafia kingpins would probably be uncomfortable in Monaco because of its size and vulnerability to French intelligence.
Hinting at a possible deal with Paris, Mr. Francois seemed to offer a compromise in which Monaco would reform its law enforcement in exchange for being allowed to continue operating as a tax haven for some foreign depositors. "Nobody can defend practices that help organized crime finance more crime," Mr. Francois said, "but it is fruitless to seek effective cooperation between governments or among banks on tax evasion, which many European countries do not consider a major offense and which banks have historically been loath to police."
Mr. Francois acknowledged that Monaco had sometimes refused to cooperate fully with other governments, even in criminal cases. But he dismissed such incidents as "dysfunctions" and insisted that the system was being corrected to improve Monaco's responsiveness to international warrants involving felonies. If there were an impasse, he hinted, Prince Rainier could retaliate by challenging the treaties setting Monaco's allegiance to France. These accords "smack of colonial domination," Mr. Francois said, raising the specter of diplomatic embarrassment and perhaps even legal sanctions if France resorted to strong-arm tactics against Monaco, as Charles de Gaulle did in 1962 when he imposed a customs crackdown on the principality over the income tax demand.
On that occasion, Prince Rainier knuckled under, literally overnight, because France controls Monaco's land outlets. But an attempt to impose a similar blockade today could backfire against Paris, Mr. Francois implied, if the French actions infringed the sovereign status of Monaco, which has been a full member of the United Nations since 1993. "There are plenty of people who would like a chance to get a foothold in Monaco," Mr. Francois said, suggesting that companies and investors from other countries such as Italy and elsewhere would be eager to fill any French vacuum.
Despite this defiant tone, Monaco hopes to extract a deal, according to sources in the principality. They say Monaco hopes to continue as an international tax haven, even if it is forced whittle away at secrecy covering accounts of people from European Union nations. France also may succeed in applying its wealth tax to the accumulated fortunes of French residents in Monaco. In exchange for preserving a special taxation status, Monaco has started contemplating ways to meet French demands on criminal offenses, these sources said. Many complaints center on the small size of Monaco's law-enforcement staffs, and Prince Rainier might remedy that by hiring more local people and leaving fewer slots to be occupied by French civil servants. The rarity of prosecutions for money laundering in Monaco has convinced outsiders such as Mr. Montebourg that the principality is be a hotbed of crime. Indeed, Monaco's financial establishment has clearly been lax in upholding the key rule for bankers: "Know your clients." In practice, banks are supposed to know the identity of every depositor.
In the French parliamentary report, Monaco was compared unfavorably with another offshore financial haven, Britain's Isle of Man. With 200 billion French francs ($26.17 billion) in deposits, the island reported 1,200 suspicious transactions in 1998. Monaco, with 300 billion francs in accounts, had only 266 such reports in all since 1994, the parliamentary report said. Similarly, it said, a major French bank's branch in Monaco was found to have only empty folders for a quarter of its depositors, a reflection of Monaco's brisk business in accounts opened by trusts or by so-called fiduciary agents. In effect, these amount to shell companies designed to conceal the real owner of funds and reinforce banking secrecy.
Mr. Francois, while acknowledging that this system had been prone to abuse, insisted that critics had blown the situation out of proportion. Trusts, like foundations, are widely accepted in the United States and Britain. The crucial test, he said, is whether banks can and will break banking secrecy on deposits linked to serious crime. Possibly signaling a new attitude in Monaco, the principality this week agreed to freeze three bank accounts, containing $5.3 million, that a Swiss prosecutor has linked to a scandal involving France's sale of frigates to Taiwan in 1991. Early this month, Monaco for the first time started enforcing the "know your clients" doctrine. It put on trial four bankers accused of failing to report a suspicious bank deposit - $1 million, which turned out to be Colombian cocaine profits.
Even though the amount is comparatively small, the case is being watched in Paris. Significantly, the defendants are executives of the Banque du Gothard, a bank singled out for alleged laxity in the French parliamentary report. So, "It's a test," a French official said.
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