Pirating proceeds
The BBC reported on rumors that owners of ships themselves are involved in the pirating business. Like the maritime equivalent of the better know plots of the new lover of a woman “kidnapping” her (with her consent) to get the ransom from her current husband. This scenario was designed to run off together in the sunset but usually ends behind bars. Any evidence of this? No, just rumors. Imagine that a ship owner “joins forces” with the pirates and divide the ransom. How will the cash get back to the ship owner’s (secret) account? A plot to defraud their own company and put the life of a ship’s crew at risk?
As with all crime, we know that you can earn a living by both being in crime and anti-crime (both at the same time is somehow difficult although not unheard of). The anti-pirating business has been reported to have a marketing interest to blow the seriousness of the pirating problem out of the water. Pirating consultants and soldiers of fortune target Somalia as the domain of their new lucrative business.
How about the “big time money laundering”? The BBC cited a UN report without some interesting facts:
• Maritime militia, pirates involved in actual hijacking – 30%
• Ground militia (armed groups who control the territory where the pirates are based) – 10%
• Local community (elders and local officials) – 10%
• Financier – 20%
• Sponsor – 30%
The UN report found the payments are shared virtually equally between the maritime militia, although the first pirate to board the ship gets a double share or a vehicle. And compensation is paid to the family of any pirate killed during the operation.
So if 50% of the proceeds go the sponsors and financiers; who are they? What is their exact role? These questions remain unanswered but are extremely important to tackle this type of crime effectively. Where the “hawala” system in Somalia will absorb most of the cash, the financiers and sponsors are probably the ones who will do more operations at the same time and are likely candidates to launder the money instead of just spending it locally. As with all crime combatting; an effective operation should ‘cover all bases’ and not just target the foot soldiers. There will be enough of them to replace them.
Some analysts – such as the Kenyan-based security consultant Bruno Schiemsky – say pirates have given as much as 50% of their revenue to the Islamist al-Shabab militia in the areas it controls. Al-Shabab denies these allegations.
We reported earlier on money trails via Dubai. Although there was only limited evidence to suggest that Dubai is the laundering gate to the rest of the world, there is no other publicly available information on these money trails. We will keep you posted.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8061535.stm
