Illicit funds:Asset Recovery Unit
Monday, 22 June 2020 - 5:26pm | National News
NZ Police restrains $140 million in an international investigation
New Zealand Police’s Asset Recovery Unit has restrained NZD$140 million from Canton Business Corporation and its owner Alexander Vinnik who were holding funds in a New Zealand company.
This is the largest restraint of funds in New Zealand Police history.
The Asset Recovery Unit has in the last 11 months restrained a total of $165.4 million in cash and bank accounts, and nearly $63 million worth of assets and property.
Canton and its owner, Alexander Vinnik, previously operated cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e.
It is alleged that BTC-e, which operated from the United States, had no anti-money laundering controls and policies. This resulted in criminals and cybercriminals laundering proceeds derived from a range of criminal activities including computer hacking, ransomware attacks, theft, fraud, corruption and drug crime through BTC-e.
Vinnik was arrested on money laundering allegations in Greece in 2017 and has since been extradited to France where he remains in custody.
“New Zealand Police has worked closely with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States to address this very serious offending,” says Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
“These funds are likely to reflect the profit gained from the victimisation of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people globally as a result of cyber-crime and organised crime.”
Commissioner Coster says given the global nature of money laundering there is always a risk that New Zealand companies will inadvertently become involved.
“However, this restraint demonstrates that New Zealand is not, and will not be, a safe haven for the illicit proceeds generated from crime in other parts of the world.
“The global criminal community need to understand New Zealand’s financial system, and companies established here, are not the places to try to hide illicit income,” says Commissioner Coster.
“This restraining order also demonstrates that New Zealand Police are actively conducting investigations with our international partners and that we have the expertise to investigate money laundering at the most serious level.
“I want to acknowledge the tireless work of the Asset Recovery Unit in successfully restraining these illicit funds. They applied for the order during Alert Level 4, which shows their commitment to holding organised criminals to account.”
An investigation is ongoing, pending an application to the High Court seeking forfeiture of these funds.
Don’t become the victim of online crime
Protect yourself from being the target of online crime such as fraud, hacking and ransomware by taking a few simple online safety measures:
• Only give personal information to trusted people or organisations.
• Remember that legitimate businesses should never send you an email with a link to log in.
• Never reply to a scam message, even if you’re curious.
• Install a security program on your computer to protect against threats and viruses.
• Install an ad-blocker to protect against malicious advertisements.
• Don’t click on advertisements on unfamiliar or untrusted websites.
• Set strong passwords and multifactor authentication
• Be mindful of what software you download and what permissions you grant to applications.
• Be cautious when using public Wi-Fi networks — avoid doing sensitive things while using them, such as online banking.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.9% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Christmas church services.
Please refer to the info below regarding our Christmas services.
Everyone is most welcome.
We pray that everyone will have a safe and happy Christmas and lots of good times with family and friends.
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