Crime rates rises in Italy

According to the crime statistics relesed today by the Italian Ministry of Interior, in 2012 crime rates in Italy increased of 5.4 percent. The economic crisis and the recession are considered the main causes.
 http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2012/08/20/news/reati_in_aumento_del_5_4_boom_di_furti_nelle_abitazioni-41221630/

Illegal logging big business for organised gangs, World Bank reports

A new World Bank report released shows how countries can effectively fight illegal logging through the criminal justice system, punish organised crime, and trace and confiscate illegal logging profits.

People of Interest

Balkans: Organ trafficking investigation begins amid mixed expectations

The investigation into Council of Europe allegations that the Albanian KLA extracted and traded human organs began amid hopes for justice to be served, but many Serbs are doubtful.

The EU Task Force -- led by US prosecutor Clint Williamson -- launched its investigation last week into allegations made by CoE rapporteur Dick Marty's report that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) extracted and traded human organs of Serbian and Albanian civilians

Silent victims: Iraqi women trafficked for sex,into countries including Jordan - report says

A report released by the London-based non-governmental group Social Change for Education in the Middle East (SCEME) Wednesday hopes to change that.

Entitled Karamatuna, or Our Dignity, the study highlights the plight of girls as young as 10 or 12 who have been trafficked from post-war Iraq into countries including Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for sexual exploitation.

Report Blames Mexican Security Forces For Abuse

MEXICO CITY–Mexico's police and soldiers have committed widespread human rights abuses in the government's fight against organized crime, according to a report published on Wednesday.

Organized crime may be moving bioweapons

Officials with the United Nations Security Council's Counterterrorism Committee have expressed concern about the close connection between terrorists and transnational organized criminals, including cooperation in the illegal movement of biological weapons of mass destruction.

UN highlights economic cost of organised crime in Italy

The study by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna out on Tuesday (25 October) estimates that organised crime in Italy - mostly illegal waste disposal, drugs and people trafficking - is worth €116 billion a year, equivalent to 7.7 percent of the country's GDP.
The scale of the problem is far larger than in other industrialised nations - organised crime accounts for 1.3 percent of the economy in Germany, 1.2 percent in the UK and 2.3 percent in the US.

Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence and Security: 20 Practical Reforms

This is the second edition of the TI Defence and Security Programme's Handbook, Building Integrity and Reducing Corruption in Defence and Security: 20 Practical Reforms. This Handbook has a simple purpose: to show busy decision makers how significant progress can be made in tackling corruption risks in defence and security. In it, we recommend ways to diagnose corruption risks and how to lead change in defence and security establishments.  We discuss military operations, the procurement process, and budgets and assets, and show how nations are tackling corruption risks in each of these.  This edition of the handbook came about in response to the positive reaction to the first edition, and draws upon lessons we have learned in the past three years of our work.  People from some 35 nations have contributed to the ideas and approaches described here.

Cybersecurity: Protecting the digital economy

As hackers continue to outwit governments, policymakers are playing catch up: More agencies, stronger protections of data and simulated cyber attacks are all part of an upcoming artillery against cyber attacks.

The threat level of cyber crimes is rising. In the recently released organised crime threat assessment from Europol, the Internet acts as a facilitator for organised crime: “A new criminal landscape is emerging marked increasingly by highly mobile and flexible groups, operating in multiple jurisdictions and criminal sectors, and aided, in particular by widespread, illicit use of the Internet,” the organisation said.

UN: Terrorists linked to organized crime in traffic of nuclear, biological materials

The United Nations committee entrusted with helping countries tackle terrorism today voiced concern at the close connection between terrorists and transnational organized crime, including the illegal movement of nuclear, chemical, biological and other potentially deadly materials.

Exposed: organised crime at sea

THE International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Greenpeace have released the results of investigations into alleged malpractice in the Spanish fishing industry.
The ICIJ investigation claims that the Spanish fishing industry has received more than €5.8 billion in subsidies since 2000 to expand its capacity and global reach, but that public fortune supports a fleet with an extensive record of flouting rules and breaking the law.
Meanwhile Greenpeace say they have revealed how Spain, by far the most influential nation in the formulation of Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy, is repeatedly and systematically overlooking illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by its huge fleet throughout European waters and beyond.
The probe into the Spanish fishing industry by the ICIJ is the latest instalment of Looting the Seas, an ongoing investigation into ‘the forces that are rapidly depleting ocean resources’.
The ICIJ says that while European Union officials scramble in a last-ditch effort to save what are left of declining fish stocks, a look at the Spanish fleet – the region’s most powerful player – shows what they are up against.
“Fish are not an unlimited resource,” said fisheries economist Andrew Dyck of University of British Columbia. “When the public purse is the only thing propping this industry up, we are paying for resource degradation.”
ICIJ says its analysis is the first in-depth look at how much public aid Spain has received, primarily from the EU, but also from the national and regional governments.
“Subsidies keep the Spanish industry afloat. They account for a third of the sector’s value. Simply put, nearly one-in-three fish caught on a hook or raised in a farm is paid for with public money,” the ICIJ claims.
Among the findings of the ICIJ study are:

• One Spanish ship owner received more than €8.2 million in subsidies while his company or its affiliates faced more than 40 accusations of alleged illegal fishing and US$5 million in fines.
 
• The Spanish fishing industry cornered a third of all subsidies granted to EU fisheries since 2000 – far more than that of any other EU country. Public aid has been used to modernize ships, buy fishing rights to the waters of developing countries, and even pay for private security aboard vessels and for advertising and promotion.
 
• Tax breaks account for a big chunk of aid. The Spanish industry has benefited from €2 billion in fuel tax exemptions since 2000.
 
• More than 80 percent of subsidized fishing companies that were fined in Spain for infractions such as fishing in a prohibited area and targeting juvenile fish– and then lost subsequent court appeals – continued to receive subsidies.

In a new report titled ‘Ocean Inquirer’ by Greenpeace, the campaigning organisation takes as a case study one Galician family whose companies have received over €16 million in subsidies from European taxpayers to fund a long list of criminal activities. 


Greenpeace say: “The Vidal family’s many ships have been found conducting IUU fishing for decades, right around the world, and been prosecuted in the US, the UK and in the Pacific and the Spanish government have promised on numerous occasions to investigate and put an end to these abuses. But what they have actually done is fund them - with our money. 


“Spain has the largest fishing fleet in Europe, maintained with billions in subsidies - more than double the amount of subsidies received by any other EU nation. The Spanish fleet has exploited the CFP to infiltrate the fleets of other European nations and take their fishing quotas, and it is widely recognised that without a proper investigation and reform of the Spanish industry, a CFP which actually fulfils its purpose of managing Europe’s fishing industry in a sustainable manner is highly unlikely.
“The case study of the Vidal family documents their long history of illegal fishing, their prosecutions and convictions and their frequently successful attempts to avoid justice, and Spain’s continuing failure to deal with an issue which has been raised with them on numerous occasions. It also reveals new evidence on Vidal’s latest business venture, an alleged fish oil factory in Galicia. This factory is not currently operational, many months after its claimed opening date, and yet has already earned the Vidal family another €6.5 million in EU subsidies. 


Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ariana Densham said: “According to some estimates, up to 49% of the global catch is illegal, unreported and unregulated and this is one of the reasons why our over-exploited fisheries are in such rapid decline. The fact that in Europe this theft of fish is being subsidised by taxpayers’ money, that we’re actually paying pirates to steal our fish, destroy one of our oldest industries and devastate the marine environment, shows just how corrupted the CFP is.”
She continued: “If we want to avoid jellyfish and chips becoming our new national dish, the first thing we need to do is properly investigate this sort of abuse and make certain that any subsidies under the new CFP go to fishing which is sustainable and legal.”

Greenpeace are calling for a full EU investigation into subsidies given to the Spanish fishing industry, and for all future subsidies to be given to legal, transparent and sustainable fishing practices, consistent with the CFP’s stated objectives. 



The Greenpeace report: 
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/exposed-organised-crime-sea-20111002
The ICIJ investigation: http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/icij/

Preventing misuse of public funds by criminal organisations

Public funds should be made fully traceable to prevent mafia-style organisations from misusing them, says a resolution approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday. MEPs also call for a special EP committee to investigate infiltration of the public sector and the legal economy by organised crime.

Organised crime, especially Mafia-style crime, takes advantage of globalisation, the abolition of borders in the EU and differences among EU Member States' laws to make substantial profits and go unpunished. This is possible because criminal organisations have created a support network and consolidated infiltrations into the political world, the civil service and the legal economy, says the resolution.

Transnational Organized Crime: A Growing Threat to National and International Security

On July 25, 2011, the National Security Staff of USA released its strategy to combat transnational organized crime, titled “Addressing Converging Threats to National Security”. This article will refer to basic facts and data about the historical background, terminology, practices and final guidelines of the above mentioned strategy.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE

AUSTRAC's Typologies and case studies report 2011

  The Austrac typologies and case studies report 2011 reveals how the Government Agencies, combined with Austrac’s analysis of reports provided by Australian businesses, have led to asset seizures and arrests of criminals in Australia and overseas.

AUSTRAC's 2011 typologies report is the fifth in an annual series of reports produced by the agency.
The 2011 report includes 20 real-life case studies illustrating how legitimate services offered by Australian businesses have been exploited for criminal purposes. By highlighting these past examples of criminal activity, the report educates Australian businesses about their money laundering and terrorism financing risks and helps them recognise and mitigate these risks.
The report examines the ways in which criminals misused banks, casinos and money transfer agencies to commit serious transnational crime including fraud, terrorism financing, people smuggling and human trafficking.

The report is available here

Link between organized crime and construction clear: report

An rinvestigation into anti-corruption in Quebec has established a link between organized crime and Quebec’s construction industry.

Nigerian women and sex trafficking

In two special Aljazeera reports, the tragedy of African women victim of sex trafficking is investigated, and in particular their situation in southern Italy, in the ghettos near Napoli.

Italy's Bloodiest Mafia: The Camorra

An investigation exposing how Italy's most ruthless organised crime syndicate has taken over one of the country's most beautiful cities, killing its citizens and poisoning its water, making massive amounts of money and effectively operating an alternative government.

'Italy's Bloodiest Mafia: The Camorra', documentary by the BBC, on air on the 8th of August on ABC1

Italian journalists and mafias

An interesting inquiry on the risks faced by journalists in Italy because of the mafias operating in the country. Here something shorter in english from Reporters Without Borders: http://en.rsf.org/report-italy,111.html

gambling, slot machines and oc

According to the Italian National Anti-Mafia Directorate Mafia groups are increasingly infiltrating the gambling business.