A confidential briefing for the Attorney-General's Department, prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology, lashes the music and software sectors. The draft of the institute's intellectual property crime report, sighted by The Australian shows that copyright owners "failed to explain" how they reached financial loss statistics used in lobbying activities and court cases.
Figures for 2005 from the global Business Software Association showing $361 million a year of lost sales in Australia are "unverified and epistemologically unreliable", the report says. BSAA chairman Jim Macnamara said the figure was an extrapolation, but other studies had supported it. "They're entitled to say they're not convinced, but not necessarily entitled to say it's unverified," he said.
The study, which says some of the statistics used by copyright owners are "absurd", will be redrafted after senior researchers disagreed with its conclusions. Painting a picture of an industry seething with competitive jealousies, the report describes how "well-connected Canberra-based lobbyists" fight for government attention and police time on piracy.
Researcher Alex Malik, working for the AIC under a commission from the Attorney-General's Department and IP Australia, was particularly critical of the use of statistics in court. "Of greatest concern is the potentially unqualified use of these statistics in courts of law," the draft reads. Mr Malik declined to speak to The Australian, citing a confidentiality agreement.
Institute principal criminologist Russell Smith said the report was an early draft that was being edited by the agency. "We wouldn't use language like that because it's not accurate, it's hyperbolic and overblown," he said. "It was a very early draft written by a consultant, and we would want a chance to revise it.
"We have an extensive quality control system in the institute, so that drafts are read by most senior staff. "The report hasn't been finalised. It's still being edited and revised." Copyright owners have lobbied for several years to have a study done, hoping their figures will result in more law enforcement action on piracy.
The report, intended as a confidential government briefing, casts doubt on the methodology of some industry piracy studies. It says the manager of the recording industry's anti-piracy arm, Music Industry Piracy Investigations, did not know how piracy estimates were calculated, as that work was done by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries in London.
Copyright owners often use street-value estimates to calculate losses, but this assumes that every person who bought pirated goods would otherwise have paid for a legitimate item, the report notes. MIPI manager Sabiene Heindl defended the figures, which she said were based on local survey, research and seizure statistics, but compiled in Britain. "The reason I wasn't personally aware of how they are prepared is because they are compiled by the IFPI," she said. "They have a group that has been doing this for some time."
Ms Heindl said the report was not intended to be made public. "We haven't had an opportunity to see the report," she said. "My understanding is it wasn't to be a public document and that any submissions were to be considered confidential."
The most recent locally commissioned study was in the late 1990s, Mr Macnamara said. Many copyright holders claimed links between piracy and organised crime, but AIC researcher had found nothing to support that view. "Either there is no evidence of any links between piracy and organised crime or it is simply beyond the capacity of rights holders to identify these links," he wrote, adding that he was concerned about the way piracy figures were being used. "It is inappropriate for courts and policy makers to accept at face value currently unsubstantiated statistics. "Either these statistics must be withdrawn or the purveyors of these statistics must supply valid and transparent substantiation."
Some industry groups were reluctant to work with researchers, because of concern about data leaking to competitors. Much of that has to do with a fight over access to resources. "There is a perception among some rights holders that they are in competition with each other over limited federal government resources," the report says. "They fear that if they reveal the nature of their relationships with government, such as the placement of well-connected Canberra lobbyists, they will jepordise their advantage."
The Australian
NOVEMBER 07, 2006
09 November 2006
CIROC Seminar: 'East meets West' 20 December 2006
On May 1, 2004 10 new countries from Central and East Europe joined the European Union, on January 1, 2007 two more countries will follow them. This enlargement provided not only new economic possibilities, but also created new opportunities for organized crime. Politicians, journalists and scholars emphasize the fear that West Europe is about to ‘import’ crime from the East Europe. But also West European criminals ‘discover’ new illicit markets and clients in East Europe. How serious is the problem of import/export of organized crime to- and from East Europe? This is the subject which Dutch and East European criminologists will discuss during the present CIROC seminar.
Programme
9.30 – 10.00 Coffee
10.00 – 10.15 Opening – Prof. Dr. Henk van de Bunt (EUR/ CIROC)
Morning session
The criminal threat of the EU enlargement – myth and reality (chair: Prof. Dr. Henk van de Bunt, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam/ CIROC)
10.15 – 11.00 The criminal import/export between East and West Europe – Dr. Dina Siegel (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, CIROC)
11.00 – 11.45 Transnational Organised Crime, illegal markets and human trafficking from Serbia to the Western Europe - Prof. Dr. Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, (Victimology Society of Serbia.)
11.45 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch
Afternoon session
Situation in Eastern Europe – crime for export? (chair: Dr. Dina Siegel, VU/ CIROC)
13.30 – 14.15 Bulgarian Organized Crime – Tihomir Bezlov (Center for Study of Democracy, Sofia, Bulgaria)
14.15 – 15.00 The evolution of Albanian organized crime groups in Belgium and the Netherlands: what has changed since 1996? – Jana Arsovska (Catholic University of Leuven)
15.00 – 15.30 Koffie / coffee break
15.30 – 16.15 The view of Dutch law enforcement - mr. Jan Boersma (Nationale Recherche, VU)
16.15 –16.45 Discussion
16.45 – 17.30 Drink
For more informatio visit the CIROC website.
Programme
9.30 – 10.00 Coffee
10.00 – 10.15 Opening – Prof. Dr. Henk van de Bunt (EUR/ CIROC)
Morning session
The criminal threat of the EU enlargement – myth and reality (chair: Prof. Dr. Henk van de Bunt, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam/ CIROC)
10.15 – 11.00 The criminal import/export between East and West Europe – Dr. Dina Siegel (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, CIROC)
11.00 – 11.45 Transnational Organised Crime, illegal markets and human trafficking from Serbia to the Western Europe - Prof. Dr. Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic, (Victimology Society of Serbia.)
11.45 – 12.30 Discussion
12.30 – 13.30 Lunch
Afternoon session
Situation in Eastern Europe – crime for export? (chair: Dr. Dina Siegel, VU/ CIROC)
13.30 – 14.15 Bulgarian Organized Crime – Tihomir Bezlov (Center for Study of Democracy, Sofia, Bulgaria)
14.15 – 15.00 The evolution of Albanian organized crime groups in Belgium and the Netherlands: what has changed since 1996? – Jana Arsovska (Catholic University of Leuven)
15.00 – 15.30 Koffie / coffee break
15.30 – 16.15 The view of Dutch law enforcement - mr. Jan Boersma (Nationale Recherche, VU)
16.15 –16.45 Discussion
16.45 – 17.30 Drink
For more informatio visit the CIROC website.
Call for Papers Organised Crime in Asia: Governance and Accountability
Organised crime phenomena in Asia will be the focus of a special edition of the Asian Journal of Criminology to be published in September 2007.
The rapid forces of globalisation and its impact on the socio-political and economic order have provided an impetus to reconceptualise our understanding of the dynamics of organised crime as a latent social force.
This raises several important issues, both conceptual and empirical, for discussion which the journal seeks to address. Specifically, we would be interested to receiving submissions on the following or related topics:
• Organised crime and the State (eg. politics, security, accountability, governance)
• Organised crime and terrorism
• Organised crime, international law and transnational policing
The journal has appointed Dr. Mark Craig and Dr Narayanan Ganapathy as guest editors for this special edition. Abstracts of 250 words should reach the guest editors by 31 December, 2006. Full papers will be required by 30 April, 2007 and publication will be subject to normal peer review process. A colloquium has been tentatively organised for June, 2007 in Singapore. Further details will be available at a later date. Please see: Asian Journal of Criminology
For more information:
Dr Mark Craig, School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia: m.craig@qut.edu.au
Dr Narayanan Ganapathy, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore: socng@nus.edu.sg
The rapid forces of globalisation and its impact on the socio-political and economic order have provided an impetus to reconceptualise our understanding of the dynamics of organised crime as a latent social force.
This raises several important issues, both conceptual and empirical, for discussion which the journal seeks to address. Specifically, we would be interested to receiving submissions on the following or related topics:
• Organised crime and the State (eg. politics, security, accountability, governance)
• Organised crime and terrorism
• Organised crime, international law and transnational policing
The journal has appointed Dr. Mark Craig and Dr Narayanan Ganapathy as guest editors for this special edition. Abstracts of 250 words should reach the guest editors by 31 December, 2006. Full papers will be required by 30 April, 2007 and publication will be subject to normal peer review process. A colloquium has been tentatively organised for June, 2007 in Singapore. Further details will be available at a later date. Please see: Asian Journal of Criminology
For more information:
Dr Mark Craig, School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia: m.craig@qut.edu.au
Dr Narayanan Ganapathy, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore: socng@nus.edu.sg
04 November 2006
FBI Busts Credit Card Cybergang
An alleged credit card thief, who has been identified as using the online handle "John Dillinger," has emerged as a suspect in an aggressive FBI law enforcement action to be announced Friday. The action, dubbed Operation Cardkeeper, has resulted in 17 arrests of hackers and carders this week in the United States and Poland. The investigation is also focusing on three suspects in Romania who were questioned this week by Romanian authorities, as well as U.S. suspects in seven states. Authorities say more arrests are likely.
A law enforcement source told Wired News that Dillinger and other Americans indicted in the case received stolen credit card numbers from Romanian phishers and others, then used the numbers to purchase items they later resold. According to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Virginia, the person identified as using the Dillinger nickname was seized in San Diego in June on unrelated charges before being transferred to Virginia where he faces at least five counts of identity theft and access device fraud for using stolen credit card numbers belonging to Capital One bank customers.
Wired News interviewed a carder using that nick earlier this year, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the interview, the carder said that three Romanian phishers contacted him in 2004 looking for partners to cash out U.S. Bank accounts, using account and PINs they obtained through phishing.
The indictment doesn't mention U.S. Bank or other activities that Dillinger discussed with Wired News. Authorities say the indictment does not reflect everything that went into the charges against him. Dillinger likely faces two to five years in prison if convicted. He has a Nov. 13 hearing scheduled in Richmond, Virginia.
In addition to Dillinger, three other Americans and 11 Poles were arrested. The Americans are Dana Carlotta Warren, 29, of Atlanta, and Zanadu Lyons, 24, and Frederick Hale, 27, both of Columbus, Ohio. The suspects were caught with cards and MSR-206 machines used to encode data onto blank credit cards. "Zanadu (Lyons) was attempting to flush counterfeit credit cards down the toilet when authorities were attempting to execute the search warrant," the law enforcement source said.
According to the source, the Richmond FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office launched Cardkeeper around August 2004 after seeing a lot of theft involving Richmond-area banks. They were surprised at what they found once they started tracing the source of the stolen card numbers. "Just in Virginia we identified tens of thousands of compromised credit card numbers, maybe over 100,000," he said. "I don't know that anyone has ever tallied that up. There were also several thousand compromised identities (that we were seeing) trafficking over the internet."
The thieves obtained credit and debit card numbers through phishing scams and by hacking into databases, then distributed the numbers to accomplices through CcpowerForums, Darkmarket and other carding sites devoted to international cybercrime.
Among the Polish suspects arrested are Mateusz Rymski, aka "Blindroot," who the FBI identifies as a leader of the ring. The source said Rymski hacked into third-party web servers and then rented their illicit access to other criminals to host their phishing pages or use as a proxy to hide their trails. "He was selling root access to multiple Romanians who were engaged in phishing and credit card fraud," said the source. "And the Romanians were distributing compromised credit card numbers on the order of the thousands, if not higher than that."
The Romanians are also suspected of writing keystroke-logging software to collect card numbers and other data from infected computers.
Wired
3 November 2006
A law enforcement source told Wired News that Dillinger and other Americans indicted in the case received stolen credit card numbers from Romanian phishers and others, then used the numbers to purchase items they later resold. According to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Virginia, the person identified as using the Dillinger nickname was seized in San Diego in June on unrelated charges before being transferred to Virginia where he faces at least five counts of identity theft and access device fraud for using stolen credit card numbers belonging to Capital One bank customers.
Wired News interviewed a carder using that nick earlier this year, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the interview, the carder said that three Romanian phishers contacted him in 2004 looking for partners to cash out U.S. Bank accounts, using account and PINs they obtained through phishing.
The indictment doesn't mention U.S. Bank or other activities that Dillinger discussed with Wired News. Authorities say the indictment does not reflect everything that went into the charges against him. Dillinger likely faces two to five years in prison if convicted. He has a Nov. 13 hearing scheduled in Richmond, Virginia.
In addition to Dillinger, three other Americans and 11 Poles were arrested. The Americans are Dana Carlotta Warren, 29, of Atlanta, and Zanadu Lyons, 24, and Frederick Hale, 27, both of Columbus, Ohio. The suspects were caught with cards and MSR-206 machines used to encode data onto blank credit cards. "Zanadu (Lyons) was attempting to flush counterfeit credit cards down the toilet when authorities were attempting to execute the search warrant," the law enforcement source said.
According to the source, the Richmond FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office launched Cardkeeper around August 2004 after seeing a lot of theft involving Richmond-area banks. They were surprised at what they found once they started tracing the source of the stolen card numbers. "Just in Virginia we identified tens of thousands of compromised credit card numbers, maybe over 100,000," he said. "I don't know that anyone has ever tallied that up. There were also several thousand compromised identities (that we were seeing) trafficking over the internet."
The thieves obtained credit and debit card numbers through phishing scams and by hacking into databases, then distributed the numbers to accomplices through CcpowerForums, Darkmarket and other carding sites devoted to international cybercrime.
Among the Polish suspects arrested are Mateusz Rymski, aka "Blindroot," who the FBI identifies as a leader of the ring. The source said Rymski hacked into third-party web servers and then rented their illicit access to other criminals to host their phishing pages or use as a proxy to hide their trails. "He was selling root access to multiple Romanians who were engaged in phishing and credit card fraud," said the source. "And the Romanians were distributing compromised credit card numbers on the order of the thousands, if not higher than that."
The Romanians are also suspected of writing keystroke-logging software to collect card numbers and other data from infected computers.
Wired
3 November 2006
03 November 2006
Marshals Net Nearly 11,000 Fugitives
WASHINGTON -- Nearly 11,000 sex offenders, gang members and other fugitives were swept up in what the Justice Department on Thursday called a sting targeting the "worst of the worst" criminals on the run.
Last week's roundup, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, included Allen Marksberry, an unregistered sex offender in Rickman, Tenn., who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested on Oct. 24. Also nabbed were Demetrius Avery Jackson, an accused cop killer in Birmingham, Ala., and Eric Dewayne Meneese, a Crips gang member, in Nashville, Tenn.
The weeklong sting, code-named Operation Falcon III, also led to the shooting death of a Georgia fugitive who was killed by authorities as he came out of his house, officials said. Additionally, the neighbor of a fugitive in Florida fired _ but missed _ police approaching her home. Both incidents are under investigation, said John F. Clark, director of the Marshals Service.
The roundup, in 24 states east of the Mississippi River, targeted "the worst of the worst fugitive felons in the country," Attorney General Albert Gonzales said at a Washington news conference. "America's neighborhoods are safer today, thanks to Operation Falcon III," Gonzales said. Two earlier stings _ Falcons I and II _ were held in April over the last two years. Gonzales and Clark denied that next week's elections played any part in scheduling the latest crackdown.
"I can assure you that the coordination of getting 3,000-plus officers and agents, and everybody together to do this, just takes a lot of coordination," Clark said, adding that he wanted to do the roundup in the fall _ before the winter weather hit. In all, Gonzales said officials caught 10,773 fugitives _ including 1,659 sex offenders, 364 gang members and thousands of others sought on kidnapping, robbery, burglary, carjacking and weapons charges. More than 230 weapons were seized.
Those totals represent a fraction of doors knocked on, liquor store drive-bys, construction site surveillances and tips chased down by agents during the weeklong sweep. Finding the fugitives _ even at their homes in the early-morning hours _ proved to be a hit-or-miss mission for the federal, state and local authorities. A six-hour sting in Washington, D.C., last Thursday morning, for example, netted none of the accused drug dealers sought by a team of seven agents from the U.S. Marshals, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, State Department and the city's Metropolitan Police Department.
"He was there a week or so ago," muttered Marshals Inspector Robert Hoffmaster, after a pre-daybreak search of a house for an accused drug dealer. In upstate New York, some fugitives tried to hide in unusual places. "We grabbed one guy out of the shower," said Joe Ciccarelli, supervisor of the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force in New York's northern district. "We found people hiding in between insulation, rolled up in rugs, inside of cabinets, inside of closets that a person shouldn't be able to fit in, but they end up fitting in and we have had to call the fire department to get them out."
Of the sex offenders nabbed, 971 had failed to register with authorities as required by law _ what Gonzales called the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort. Gonzales said prosecutors likely would seek to charge some of them under the 2006 Adam Walsh Act. That law, approved by Congress last summer, created federal penalties for sex offenders who fail register with communities. The law was named for six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and murdered in 1981.
Falcon III showed the Marshals "have proven their extraordinary ability to quickly capture thousands of sexual predators," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Normally, the Marshals regional task forces round up about 1,000 fugitives each week, officials said. An estimated 1 million fugitives are on the loose nationwide.
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 2, 2006; 9:20 PM
Last week's roundup, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, included Allen Marksberry, an unregistered sex offender in Rickman, Tenn., who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested on Oct. 24. Also nabbed were Demetrius Avery Jackson, an accused cop killer in Birmingham, Ala., and Eric Dewayne Meneese, a Crips gang member, in Nashville, Tenn.
The weeklong sting, code-named Operation Falcon III, also led to the shooting death of a Georgia fugitive who was killed by authorities as he came out of his house, officials said. Additionally, the neighbor of a fugitive in Florida fired _ but missed _ police approaching her home. Both incidents are under investigation, said John F. Clark, director of the Marshals Service.
The roundup, in 24 states east of the Mississippi River, targeted "the worst of the worst fugitive felons in the country," Attorney General Albert Gonzales said at a Washington news conference. "America's neighborhoods are safer today, thanks to Operation Falcon III," Gonzales said. Two earlier stings _ Falcons I and II _ were held in April over the last two years. Gonzales and Clark denied that next week's elections played any part in scheduling the latest crackdown.
"I can assure you that the coordination of getting 3,000-plus officers and agents, and everybody together to do this, just takes a lot of coordination," Clark said, adding that he wanted to do the roundup in the fall _ before the winter weather hit. In all, Gonzales said officials caught 10,773 fugitives _ including 1,659 sex offenders, 364 gang members and thousands of others sought on kidnapping, robbery, burglary, carjacking and weapons charges. More than 230 weapons were seized.
Those totals represent a fraction of doors knocked on, liquor store drive-bys, construction site surveillances and tips chased down by agents during the weeklong sweep. Finding the fugitives _ even at their homes in the early-morning hours _ proved to be a hit-or-miss mission for the federal, state and local authorities. A six-hour sting in Washington, D.C., last Thursday morning, for example, netted none of the accused drug dealers sought by a team of seven agents from the U.S. Marshals, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, State Department and the city's Metropolitan Police Department.
"He was there a week or so ago," muttered Marshals Inspector Robert Hoffmaster, after a pre-daybreak search of a house for an accused drug dealer. In upstate New York, some fugitives tried to hide in unusual places. "We grabbed one guy out of the shower," said Joe Ciccarelli, supervisor of the U.S. Marshals fugitive task force in New York's northern district. "We found people hiding in between insulation, rolled up in rugs, inside of cabinets, inside of closets that a person shouldn't be able to fit in, but they end up fitting in and we have had to call the fire department to get them out."
Of the sex offenders nabbed, 971 had failed to register with authorities as required by law _ what Gonzales called the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort. Gonzales said prosecutors likely would seek to charge some of them under the 2006 Adam Walsh Act. That law, approved by Congress last summer, created federal penalties for sex offenders who fail register with communities. The law was named for six-year-old Adam Walsh, who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and murdered in 1981.
Falcon III showed the Marshals "have proven their extraordinary ability to quickly capture thousands of sexual predators," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Normally, the Marshals regional task forces round up about 1,000 fugitives each week, officials said. An estimated 1 million fugitives are on the loose nationwide.
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 2, 2006; 9:20 PM
Russia: Witnesses to Receive Bodyguards
Witnesses whose testimony in court could cost them their lives will get bodyguards and possibly plastic surgery under a witness protection program approved by the Cabinet. Other protective measures include relocation and bulletproof vests. The $35.5 million program is meant to shore up the country's shaky criminal justice system, the government said this week on its web site.
Legislators have wanted a witness protection program for years. The State Duma passed measures in 1995 and 1997 that would have created one, but President Boris Yeltsin vetoed both bills. Then, in 2004, President Vladimir Putin signed the law on government defense of victims, witnesses and other participants in legal proceedings. But human rights activists and crime experts say that the law opens the door to police abuse and that the government is unable, in any event, to offer witnesses much protection.
The Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the State Customs Committee and the Federal Drug Control Service would be responsible for protecting witnesses.
The Moscow Times
Friday, November 3, 2006. Issue 3533. Page 2.
Legislators have wanted a witness protection program for years. The State Duma passed measures in 1995 and 1997 that would have created one, but President Boris Yeltsin vetoed both bills. Then, in 2004, President Vladimir Putin signed the law on government defense of victims, witnesses and other participants in legal proceedings. But human rights activists and crime experts say that the law opens the door to police abuse and that the government is unable, in any event, to offer witnesses much protection.
The Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service, the State Customs Committee and the Federal Drug Control Service would be responsible for protecting witnesses.
The Moscow Times
Friday, November 3, 2006. Issue 3533. Page 2.
SA: Crime stats indicate broad, steady progress
Discussing the recently released crime statistics, made public as part of the South African Police Service (SAPS) annual report, Business Against Crime CEO Siphiwe Nzimande says that the publication of the numbers is crucial to inform the understanding of reported crime in the country, the strategic and operational priorities of the SAPS and underscore the successes of the SAPS.
“The newly released crime statistics indicate that steady progress continues to be made in the national fight against crime across a broad front, building on the achievement over the previous few years,” he adds.
These positive tendencies are, however, counter- balanced by negative trends in specified crime categories, especially regarding serious and violent crime instigated by organised crime syndicates. “Negative trends have continued beyond the reporting period and have the potential to overshadow successes achieved in the year under review in the national fight against crime,” Nzimande comments.
The report indicates an ongoing high level of serious and violent crime in the business sector, including robberies undertaken by well-armed, highly organised groups on the cash-in-transit, gaming and retail sectors. Nzimande says that both the number of aggravated robberies and the financial losses remain a serious cause for concern. “However, owing to proactive and decisive action taken by both businesses and government, the number of fatalities and deaths in these robberies are being reduced.” The Industry Alignment Forum, which is facilitated by Business Against Crime, categorised business robberies, syndicated theft and commercial crime as ‘common threats’, as a result of the ongoing prevalence of these crimes.
The partnership is now poised to make a meaningful impact on these crimes in the coming months, particularly since government recently prioritised aggravated robberies for special focused action. “The real challenge is to reduce the overall levels of crime and violence. It is incumbent that all South Africans work together with government in eradicating the scourge of crime and violence in our society, while promoting good moral values,” Nzimande urges.
Business Against Crime and the business sector have welcomed the decision by President Thabo Mbeki to re-energise the partnership between business and government at the highest possible level with respect to the national crime challenges. This, according to Nzimande, will create an environment for joint engagement between the leadership of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster as well as representatives from the Business Working Group and Business Against Crime.
Business Against Crime is and has been involved in many crime-prevention programmes and initiatives throughout South Africa. The criminal-justice strengthening programme is designed to build and support the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, through the implementation of various initiatives founded by USAID. The Tiisa Thuto programme teaches nonviolent methods of conflict resolution and positive morality, including life skills and personal values, in schools to reduce crime and violence, while improving the standards of learning. The support programme for police stations aims to improve service delivery at police stations through effective management, best practices, skills and capacity development.
The commercial-crime programme has established specialised commercial crime court centres (SCCCCs) countrywide, staffed by specialists to ensure quick and appropriate senten- cing for the convicted. Four SCCCCs have been established in Tshwane, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Future courts of this kind will be established in Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Nzimande reports that the SCCCC initiative has achieved an average 98% conviction rate and the case-processing time has been reduced from 30 months, in 1999, to 14 months, last year.
One of the biggest initiatives is the organised crime programme, which aims to reduce large-scale syndicated crimes by removing the commercial benefit in the trade of stolen goods, as well as effective prosecution of offenders. The current focus is on vehicle theft and hijacking, cellphone theft and the theft of copper cables. This programme has resulted in significant improvement in business processes within the vehicle-management system, aimed at rooting out fraud and corruption and improving service delivery. It has been implemented throughout Gauteng and was initiated in the North West, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal. “We have seen a 30% reduction in hijackings in Gauteng over the past year and have a coordinated approach to chop shop disruption operations supported by legislation,” Nzimande continues. Additionally, the programme has allowed for more control over the movement of so-called ‘vehicles in transit’, reducing the illegal registration of second-hand vehicles locally.
The correctional services support programme was introduced to the Department of Correctional Services in its quest to become one of the best in the world, delivering correctional services with integrity and excellence. The main objective of the project is to create a human rights environment in which persons under correction can be developed, resulting in their complete rehabilitation. In line with this, Business Against Crime is focused on the development and implementation of technology strategy, implementation of the integrated human resources strategy, and the development and implementation of the costing model.
Another initiative undertaken by Business Against Crime was the creation of an industry alignment forum, which seeks to align and enhance business-sector initiatives aimed at reducing crime and violence.
Mining Weekly 03-10-06
“The newly released crime statistics indicate that steady progress continues to be made in the national fight against crime across a broad front, building on the achievement over the previous few years,” he adds.
These positive tendencies are, however, counter- balanced by negative trends in specified crime categories, especially regarding serious and violent crime instigated by organised crime syndicates. “Negative trends have continued beyond the reporting period and have the potential to overshadow successes achieved in the year under review in the national fight against crime,” Nzimande comments.
The report indicates an ongoing high level of serious and violent crime in the business sector, including robberies undertaken by well-armed, highly organised groups on the cash-in-transit, gaming and retail sectors. Nzimande says that both the number of aggravated robberies and the financial losses remain a serious cause for concern. “However, owing to proactive and decisive action taken by both businesses and government, the number of fatalities and deaths in these robberies are being reduced.” The Industry Alignment Forum, which is facilitated by Business Against Crime, categorised business robberies, syndicated theft and commercial crime as ‘common threats’, as a result of the ongoing prevalence of these crimes.
The partnership is now poised to make a meaningful impact on these crimes in the coming months, particularly since government recently prioritised aggravated robberies for special focused action. “The real challenge is to reduce the overall levels of crime and violence. It is incumbent that all South Africans work together with government in eradicating the scourge of crime and violence in our society, while promoting good moral values,” Nzimande urges.
Business Against Crime and the business sector have welcomed the decision by President Thabo Mbeki to re-energise the partnership between business and government at the highest possible level with respect to the national crime challenges. This, according to Nzimande, will create an environment for joint engagement between the leadership of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster as well as representatives from the Business Working Group and Business Against Crime.
Business Against Crime is and has been involved in many crime-prevention programmes and initiatives throughout South Africa. The criminal-justice strengthening programme is designed to build and support the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, through the implementation of various initiatives founded by USAID. The Tiisa Thuto programme teaches nonviolent methods of conflict resolution and positive morality, including life skills and personal values, in schools to reduce crime and violence, while improving the standards of learning. The support programme for police stations aims to improve service delivery at police stations through effective management, best practices, skills and capacity development.
The commercial-crime programme has established specialised commercial crime court centres (SCCCCs) countrywide, staffed by specialists to ensure quick and appropriate senten- cing for the convicted. Four SCCCCs have been established in Tshwane, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. Future courts of this kind will be established in Cape Town and Bloemfontein. Nzimande reports that the SCCCC initiative has achieved an average 98% conviction rate and the case-processing time has been reduced from 30 months, in 1999, to 14 months, last year.
One of the biggest initiatives is the organised crime programme, which aims to reduce large-scale syndicated crimes by removing the commercial benefit in the trade of stolen goods, as well as effective prosecution of offenders. The current focus is on vehicle theft and hijacking, cellphone theft and the theft of copper cables. This programme has resulted in significant improvement in business processes within the vehicle-management system, aimed at rooting out fraud and corruption and improving service delivery. It has been implemented throughout Gauteng and was initiated in the North West, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal. “We have seen a 30% reduction in hijackings in Gauteng over the past year and have a coordinated approach to chop shop disruption operations supported by legislation,” Nzimande continues. Additionally, the programme has allowed for more control over the movement of so-called ‘vehicles in transit’, reducing the illegal registration of second-hand vehicles locally.
The correctional services support programme was introduced to the Department of Correctional Services in its quest to become one of the best in the world, delivering correctional services with integrity and excellence. The main objective of the project is to create a human rights environment in which persons under correction can be developed, resulting in their complete rehabilitation. In line with this, Business Against Crime is focused on the development and implementation of technology strategy, implementation of the integrated human resources strategy, and the development and implementation of the costing model.
Another initiative undertaken by Business Against Crime was the creation of an industry alignment forum, which seeks to align and enhance business-sector initiatives aimed at reducing crime and violence.
Mining Weekly 03-10-06
02 November 2006
Analysis: Naples, a city in the grip of the Camorra
If you want to know why Romano Prodi, the Italian Prime Minister, is considering sending in troops to Naples just ask Roberto Saviano, a 28 year old Neapolitan writer whose best selling novel Gomorra, came out in May. "Gomorra" is a play on the word "Camorra", the Naples network of Mafia clans, and the book pulls no punches in revealing how they operate — and naming names. As a result Signor Saviano is in fear of his life, and has been given round-the-clock police protection. His plight confirms what everyone in Naples already knows: that although the city is ostensibly run by the local authorities, the parallel power structure of the Camorra is all pervasive.
Even before he went into hiding with an armed guard Signor Saviano began to realise he had antagonised a deadly enemy with tentacles throughout the city when local shopkeepers and bar owners turned him away rather than risk punishment from local Mafia bosses by serving him. The Camorra, he says, has murdered "about 3,600 people" since he was born. Some run down housing estates in the suburbs, such as Scampia, are Mafia fiefdoms where the police hardly dare enter.
When I went to Scampia earlier this year after a particularly horrific series of murders — one Mafia victim was decapitated with a tile cutter and then burned in his car — my taxi driver refused to linger, saying he would pick me up later, "if you are still here". The Camorra offers its own social network, a sense of community, however perverted, and jobs of a kind for the unemployed young, mostly related to cigarette smuggling, drugs or petty crime.
Women are also part of this powerful hidden structure: whenever police try to arrest a Mafia boss in Naples, it is the women who obstruct them (and who in some cases take over the clans from their imprisoned husbands or brothers).
Much of the Camorra's power stems from drugs, above all heroine and cocaine. In Scampia, junkies openly inject themselves in the rubbish strewn underpasses. Most of the turf wars between the Mafia families revolve around the struggle to control the highly lucrative drugs market.
But the violence has seeped into the historic centre as well. This week a known mafioso was shot dead in full view of passers by near the Cathedral as he was coming out of bar. In the summer a Canadian tourist was shot in the leg by a stray bullet during a Mafia shootout, and an American tourist who gave chase to two muggers was set on by local people who sympathised with the criminals rather than the victim. Hotels have taken to handing guests plastic watches so they can leave their Rolexes in the hotel safe.
Naples remains a colourful, warm-hearted and vibrant city, with gems such as the San Carlo Opera and Capodimonte Museum. Its pizza (invented in Naples) is unsurpassed, and the views over the Bay of Naples are breathtaking.
Under Antonio Bassolino, the former mayor in the 1990s, the central Piazza del Plebiscito was cleared of cars to make a pedestrian area opposite the Royal Palace, crimes such as bag snatching were reduced, and historic buildings were restored. But even Signor Bassolino, now President of the Campania region, admits that the Mafia has re-established its grip and the city is sliding towards chaos, with piles of rotting rubbish in the streets and daily murders and muggings. "The Camorra, street crime and violence risk robbing us of our future and our children's future" he says.
Bringing in the army recalls the emergency in Sicily in 1992-98, when 150,000 soldiers were sent in to deal with Mob crimes. Signor Bassolino however would prefer more police on the streets rather than troops. A thousand extra police are to be deployed in a plan devised by Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, and Signor Prodi will travel to the city tomorrow for a summit with local leaders on the current "crime emergency". In the end, as Rosa Russo Jervolino, the current mayor, rightly says, "the roots of the problem are social and cultural... We must be able to offer our youngsters values, education and above all work opportunities which can give them a good quality of life".
The question is whether the Prodi government, already hard pressed to find cash to reduce Italy's huge budget deficit, can find the resources to underwrite long term reforms to give Naples jobs and hope while simultaneously taking immediate emergency measures to halt the wave of violence. "We must radically and permanently revisit the way we defend the safety of our citizens," Signor Amato said. "We want a true change of direction — for the first time we are betting everything on permanent measures, not temporary ones."
President Giorgio Napolitano, who is from Naples himself, expressed his "anguish", saying Naples was facing "a social and cultural emergency" as well as a criminal one. The Italian South is suffering however from a chronic lack of investment under successive governments of both Left and Right, despite numerous high minded projects for development of the Mezzogiorno. Meanwhile the situation on the ground spirals out of control: the latest deaths have taken the number of those killed in Naples and the surrounding province since the start of the year to 72, of which 50 are Camorra-linked .
Four thousand known mafiosi are active in and around Naples, and businesses pay an estimated €30 billion to the Camorra every year, with the situation aggravated by a controversial prisoner amnesty this summer in which 7,800 inmates were released from Naples' jails, many of them — obviously — mafiosi. Perhaps the authorities should have asked Roberto Saviano first if this was a wise move.
Timesonlie.co.uk
01-11-06
Even before he went into hiding with an armed guard Signor Saviano began to realise he had antagonised a deadly enemy with tentacles throughout the city when local shopkeepers and bar owners turned him away rather than risk punishment from local Mafia bosses by serving him. The Camorra, he says, has murdered "about 3,600 people" since he was born. Some run down housing estates in the suburbs, such as Scampia, are Mafia fiefdoms where the police hardly dare enter.
When I went to Scampia earlier this year after a particularly horrific series of murders — one Mafia victim was decapitated with a tile cutter and then burned in his car — my taxi driver refused to linger, saying he would pick me up later, "if you are still here". The Camorra offers its own social network, a sense of community, however perverted, and jobs of a kind for the unemployed young, mostly related to cigarette smuggling, drugs or petty crime.
Women are also part of this powerful hidden structure: whenever police try to arrest a Mafia boss in Naples, it is the women who obstruct them (and who in some cases take over the clans from their imprisoned husbands or brothers).
Much of the Camorra's power stems from drugs, above all heroine and cocaine. In Scampia, junkies openly inject themselves in the rubbish strewn underpasses. Most of the turf wars between the Mafia families revolve around the struggle to control the highly lucrative drugs market.
But the violence has seeped into the historic centre as well. This week a known mafioso was shot dead in full view of passers by near the Cathedral as he was coming out of bar. In the summer a Canadian tourist was shot in the leg by a stray bullet during a Mafia shootout, and an American tourist who gave chase to two muggers was set on by local people who sympathised with the criminals rather than the victim. Hotels have taken to handing guests plastic watches so they can leave their Rolexes in the hotel safe.
Naples remains a colourful, warm-hearted and vibrant city, with gems such as the San Carlo Opera and Capodimonte Museum. Its pizza (invented in Naples) is unsurpassed, and the views over the Bay of Naples are breathtaking.
Under Antonio Bassolino, the former mayor in the 1990s, the central Piazza del Plebiscito was cleared of cars to make a pedestrian area opposite the Royal Palace, crimes such as bag snatching were reduced, and historic buildings were restored. But even Signor Bassolino, now President of the Campania region, admits that the Mafia has re-established its grip and the city is sliding towards chaos, with piles of rotting rubbish in the streets and daily murders and muggings. "The Camorra, street crime and violence risk robbing us of our future and our children's future" he says.
Bringing in the army recalls the emergency in Sicily in 1992-98, when 150,000 soldiers were sent in to deal with Mob crimes. Signor Bassolino however would prefer more police on the streets rather than troops. A thousand extra police are to be deployed in a plan devised by Giuliano Amato, the Interior Minister, and Signor Prodi will travel to the city tomorrow for a summit with local leaders on the current "crime emergency". In the end, as Rosa Russo Jervolino, the current mayor, rightly says, "the roots of the problem are social and cultural... We must be able to offer our youngsters values, education and above all work opportunities which can give them a good quality of life".
The question is whether the Prodi government, already hard pressed to find cash to reduce Italy's huge budget deficit, can find the resources to underwrite long term reforms to give Naples jobs and hope while simultaneously taking immediate emergency measures to halt the wave of violence. "We must radically and permanently revisit the way we defend the safety of our citizens," Signor Amato said. "We want a true change of direction — for the first time we are betting everything on permanent measures, not temporary ones."
President Giorgio Napolitano, who is from Naples himself, expressed his "anguish", saying Naples was facing "a social and cultural emergency" as well as a criminal one. The Italian South is suffering however from a chronic lack of investment under successive governments of both Left and Right, despite numerous high minded projects for development of the Mezzogiorno. Meanwhile the situation on the ground spirals out of control: the latest deaths have taken the number of those killed in Naples and the surrounding province since the start of the year to 72, of which 50 are Camorra-linked .
Four thousand known mafiosi are active in and around Naples, and businesses pay an estimated €30 billion to the Camorra every year, with the situation aggravated by a controversial prisoner amnesty this summer in which 7,800 inmates were released from Naples' jails, many of them — obviously — mafiosi. Perhaps the authorities should have asked Roberto Saviano first if this was a wise move.
Timesonlie.co.uk
01-11-06
Italian PM weighs up military mission to Naples
The Prime Minister of Italy is considering sending the army to restore order to Naples, where a bloody crime spree has claimed seven lives since Friday. Romano Prodi was quoted by the Ansa news agency saying he was "making an assessment" of the long term benefits of deploying the military to quell a surge in violence believed to be related to rivalries within the Camorra, the Neapolitan branch of the Mafia. "This time the fight against crime will not be carried out to soothe public opinion for a few days or a few months, but it will be a permanent fight to bring safety to the citizens," he said.
Earlier, the Interior Minister, Giuliano Amato, said more than 1,000 police reinforcements would arrive in the southern city on November 9 to reinforce the local force of 13,000, which has been unable to rein in the recent violence. Signor Amato spoke after a 36-year old man was shot dead in a video games shop in Naples in what officials said appeared to be a Mafia-related murder. It was the fifth killing since Friday. Shortly after the announcement, two members of the Camorra were murdered in Torre del Greco, a small town near Naples in what police said was a settling of scores.
The possible deployment of the army comes after an appeal from the regional governor of Naples, Antonio Bassolino, who has asked for more security forces and "more sophisticated means" of fighting crime in the city. "We are sitting on a volcano," he told La Repubblica newspaper, which reported today that many of the extra 1,000 police were expected to protect tourist areas in the popular holiday destination, as well as help in the fight against the Camorra and rampant local crime.
The weekend's rush of killings has been a mixture of organised and casual crime. On Friday, a tobacconist killed an armed robber and seriously wounded an accomplice trying to steal his earnings. On Saturday a masked gunman killed Patrizia Marino, a 63-year-old Mafia drug dealer whose husband and two sons were recently murdered. Later that night a 16-year-old killed his girlfriend's former boyfriend. On Monday, a petty criminal was shot dead Naples’s old city, and a passer-by was injured.
Timesonline.co.uk
01-11-06
Earlier, the Interior Minister, Giuliano Amato, said more than 1,000 police reinforcements would arrive in the southern city on November 9 to reinforce the local force of 13,000, which has been unable to rein in the recent violence. Signor Amato spoke after a 36-year old man was shot dead in a video games shop in Naples in what officials said appeared to be a Mafia-related murder. It was the fifth killing since Friday. Shortly after the announcement, two members of the Camorra were murdered in Torre del Greco, a small town near Naples in what police said was a settling of scores.
The possible deployment of the army comes after an appeal from the regional governor of Naples, Antonio Bassolino, who has asked for more security forces and "more sophisticated means" of fighting crime in the city. "We are sitting on a volcano," he told La Repubblica newspaper, which reported today that many of the extra 1,000 police were expected to protect tourist areas in the popular holiday destination, as well as help in the fight against the Camorra and rampant local crime.
The weekend's rush of killings has been a mixture of organised and casual crime. On Friday, a tobacconist killed an armed robber and seriously wounded an accomplice trying to steal his earnings. On Saturday a masked gunman killed Patrizia Marino, a 63-year-old Mafia drug dealer whose husband and two sons were recently murdered. Later that night a 16-year-old killed his girlfriend's former boyfriend. On Monday, a petty criminal was shot dead Naples’s old city, and a passer-by was injured.
Timesonline.co.uk
01-11-06
01 November 2006
China: Law on financial crimes broadened
CHINA'S top legislature yesterday expanded the scope of an anti-money laundering law to include accepting bribes. The definition of money laundering also has expanded to include corruption, violating financial management regulations and financial fraud. The law is expected to come into effect on January 1.
Previously, the law only identified drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorist crimes and smuggling as money laundering crimes. China's officials and analysts believed the coverage was too narrow. They called for stepping up efforts to combat money laundering, which has risen in recent years along with activities such as embezzlement, drug trafficking and other smuggling. The law demands financial and some non-financial institutions to maintain record on clients and transaction records and to report large and suspect transactions.
The People's Bank of China is the nerve center of the anti-money laundering campaign. Its provincial branch offices are authorized to investigate suspect fund transfers of financial institutions. The law demands financial and certain non-financial institutions to keep identity information of clients and transaction records, report large and suspect transactions. The law offers a legal basis for checking the flow of cash of corrupt officials, said Lang Sheng, an official on criminal law with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
The People's Bank of China, or central bank, is the nerve center of the anti-money laundering campaign. Its offices are empowered to monitor and investigate suspect money flows and mete out administrative punishment to employees for allowing the illegal transfer of money. The move is designed to widen the legal net to combat money laundering.
The China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center, an office under the central bank set up in 2004, says 683 suspicious money laundering cases had been reported to the police by the end of 2005. They involved 137.8 billion yuan (US$17.2 billion) and over US$1 billion.
The law does not detail the legal power of the center, but allows it to gather "necessary information from departments and institutions under the State Council." The law is also expected to help facilitate China's application to the Financial Action Task Force - a Paris-based inter-governmental body that promotes policies to combat money laundering.
Xinhua 01-11-06
Previously, the law only identified drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorist crimes and smuggling as money laundering crimes. China's officials and analysts believed the coverage was too narrow. They called for stepping up efforts to combat money laundering, which has risen in recent years along with activities such as embezzlement, drug trafficking and other smuggling. The law demands financial and some non-financial institutions to maintain record on clients and transaction records and to report large and suspect transactions.
The People's Bank of China is the nerve center of the anti-money laundering campaign. Its provincial branch offices are authorized to investigate suspect fund transfers of financial institutions. The law demands financial and certain non-financial institutions to keep identity information of clients and transaction records, report large and suspect transactions. The law offers a legal basis for checking the flow of cash of corrupt officials, said Lang Sheng, an official on criminal law with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
The People's Bank of China, or central bank, is the nerve center of the anti-money laundering campaign. Its offices are empowered to monitor and investigate suspect money flows and mete out administrative punishment to employees for allowing the illegal transfer of money. The move is designed to widen the legal net to combat money laundering.
The China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center, an office under the central bank set up in 2004, says 683 suspicious money laundering cases had been reported to the police by the end of 2005. They involved 137.8 billion yuan (US$17.2 billion) and over US$1 billion.
The law does not detail the legal power of the center, but allows it to gather "necessary information from departments and institutions under the State Council." The law is also expected to help facilitate China's application to the Financial Action Task Force - a Paris-based inter-governmental body that promotes policies to combat money laundering.
Xinhua 01-11-06
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