Citibank Japan cited for inadequate anti-money laundering measures, hit with sales suspension

September 4th, 2009 Prius top-selling car in Japan for 4th monthTOKYO — Toyota's hugely popular Prius ranked as Japan's best-selling car in August, keeping the top spot for the fourth consecutive month with the help of government subsidies and tax breaks, an auto industry group said Friday. The Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker, sold 21,669 Prius cars in the month.

July 1st, 2009 Mitsubishi North America sales drop in JuneCYPRESS, Calif. — Mitsubishi Motors North America said Wednesday its sales dropped 41.7 percent in June compared with the same month a year ago, although sales fell at a slower pace than in the previous month.

June 1st, 2009 Japan sees no major trouble from GM bankruptcyTOKYO — Japan stands ready to assist any Japanese companies seriously hurt by fallout from General Motors' imminent bankruptcy, government officials said Monday, while brushing off fears of major troubles. "We do not foresee any major confusion at this point," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura told reporters.

June 1st, 2009 Japan new auto sales down 19 percent in MayTOKYO — Domestic sales of Japanese vehicles fell for the tenth straight month in May, an industry group said Monday, as the recession led to increasingly cautious consumers. New sales of cars, trucks and buses dropped 19.4 percent from a year earlier to 178,503 units, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association.

May 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a major embarrassment for the Indian government, the Swiss Justice Department Monday said it had received forged documents from New Delhi two years ago in connection with an alleged Rs.40,000 crore ($8 billion) money laundering case involving racehorse breeder Hassan Ali. 'The documents submitted are forged,' Folco Galli, a spokesperson for the Swiss government, told a private Indian TV channel Monday.

May 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US military commissions to try terrorism suspects could be revived as early as this summer, but with increased legal protections for the accused, reported the Washington Post Saturday. After President Barack Obama's inauguration, the White House instituted a 120-day suspension of the military commissions.

May 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India initiated 42 investigations into anti-dumping activities in the second half of 2008, the highest among the total 120 such cases moved by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) members. Data released here Thursday by WTO showed that the last half of 2008 saw 16.5 percent jump in anti-dumping cases to 120 from 103 in the like period of the previous year.

April 21st, 2009 MOSCOW - Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev denied all the charges against them in a trial in Moscow Tuesday. 'No, I do not admit my guilt,' Khodorkovsky said.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will launch a donor-supported trust fund to finance technical assistance in Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT). The Multi-Donor Trust Fund - the first in a series of so-called Topical Trust Funds -will start operations on May 1 and provide about US$31 million over five years to contribute to the strengthening of global AML/CFT regimes, using the Fund's proven expertise and infrastructure, the Fund announced Wednesday.

March 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Japan has deployed three guided missile destroyers with orders to shoot down any debris from a North Korean rocket which might stray into Japanese airspace, a media report said. The US, Japan and South Korea meanwhile agreed that any launch would be immediately brought up in the UN Security Council, the Voice of America reported Saturday.

March 18th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh's anti-graft body has pressed charges against Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger businessman son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, for money laundering. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Tuesday said Koko, now convalescing in a Singapore hospital after months of imprisonment, had laundered money he had illegally taken from China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and German telecom firm Siemens 'in exchange for helping them get government contracts', The Daily Star said.

March 6th, 2009 KOLKATA - US-based financial power house Citibank may be facing one of its worst crises in its home territory. But the bank Thursday said it would continue with its recruitment process in India.

March 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Home Minister P. Chidambaram Tuesday condemned the shootout near Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium in which six Sri Lankan players were injured and said the security of the players was 'hopelessly inadequate'.

March 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Warning that the 'hawala' system of illegal money transfer is 'directly linked to terrorist financing', the US has urged India to cooperate with international initiatives to check money laundering and strengthen its own control regime. 'Given the number of terrorist attacks in India and the fact that in India, Hawala is directly linked to terrorist financing', a new State Department report says New Delhi 'should prioritise cooperation with international initiatives that provide increased transparency in alternative remittance systems'.

January 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Terming the second stimulus package announced by the central government Friday as 'grossly inadequate', the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday said the measures would fail to stimulate the economy. 'The stimulus package is grossly inadequate to meet the impact of the global crisis,' the party politburo said in a statement.