Paris - Russia, Israel and a string of Caribbean and Pacific Islands head a list of global money-laundering hotspots released yesterday, which were accused of recycling billions of dollars each year in receipts from organised crime.
The body co-ordinating international efforts to combat money laundering, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, named 15 countries in its first public disclosure of states refusing to co-operate with the crackdown. Most are offshore financial centres also targeted by international watchdogs for loose banking regulation and harmful tax practices.
The list includes six Caribbean countries: the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and Panama; and five Pacific islands: the Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, the Philippines, and the Marshall Islands.