Oh what a tangled web we weave...
The NORKS along with Chiner and funnelling counterfeit US currency around the world...
North Korea's government is producing high-quality counterfeit $100 bills and is working with criminal groups in China to sell the fake U.S. money internationally, U.S. officials say.
Balbina Hwang, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation, says the North Korean government has been making and circulating forged $100 bills for more than a decade.
"They produce some of the best quality supernotes," she says, adding that the North Koreans make $250 million a year from the bills.
But wait...there is more...
Meanwhile, the Bush administration last week designated the Banco Delta Asia SARL in Macau, a Chinese territory, as a "primary money-laundering concern" for its role in helping North Koreans distribute counterfeit currency and engage in illegal activities. The Treasury Department ordered the bank to be cut off from all U.S. financial transactions as a result.
This past weekend, when news of this hit, people in Macau lined up and made a run on this bank.
The US government's money-laundering accusation on Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macao-based bank, produced a shaky environment for Macao's financial system, as the bank logged a total withdrawal of 300 million patacas (37.5million US dollars) till late Saturday.
Stanley Au, chairman of the Delta Asia Financial Group (BDA's parent company), admitted at a press conference on late Saturday that the influx of withdrawal in just two days donned 10 percent of the bank's total deposit.
Macau is a tiny, sleepy little place. But, for years, has been teeming with organized crime of all sorts...all in a bid to control the gambling reciepts in the city. When visting the city, I stay away from the gambling houses...but you can sense a certain undercurrent of sleaze in the city in certain parts.
I like Macau...it is such a different experience than Hong Kong. The food is terrific...the sight seeing is wonderful. These chain of events will only sour the reputation of an otherwise nice little piece of Asia.
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