Added on May 26, 2007 this links: Clearstream and some french politics, and:
- how to launder 1.000.000 $, 3.04 minutes, April 3, 2007;
- Christian Cotten et Basano Affaire Clearstream, 28.40 minutes, March 12, 2007;
- Clearstream Comptes non référencés, 4.09 Minutes, February 3, 2007;
- Clearstream, 2 minutes, January 19, 2007;
- Denis Robert ClearStream journaliste investigation, 28,49 minutes, November 28, 2006;
- Le petit papier – l’affaire ClearStream, 2.13 minutes, November 22, 2006.
His book « Revelations »: This is a story about a massive money-laundering operation run by the world’s biggest banks. It hides behind the “eyes-glazing over” technicalities of the international financial system. But it could be one of the biggest illicit money-moving operations anyone has ever seen. And it’s allowed to exist by the financial regulators who answer to Western governments. In these days of global markets, individuals and companies may be buying stocks, bonds or derivatives from a seller who is halfway across the world. Clearinghouses like Clearstream keep track of the “paperwork” for the transactions. Banks with accounts in the clearinghouse use a debit and credit system and, at the end of the day, the accounts (minus handling fees, of course) are totaled up. The clearinghouse doesn’t actually send money anywhere, it just debits and credits its members’ accounts. The money involved is massive. Clearstream handles more than 100 million transactions a year, and claims to have securities on deposit valued at $10 trillion. (full text).
Read: Denis Robert’s whole blog.
Denis Robert – France
- Read: Denis Robert, « Révélations et Clearstream, l’enquête » (scroll down to the title), et « l’Affaire Clearstream 2 ». Sur wikipedia français: lire Clearsstream 1, et lire Clearstream 2 (same, scroll more down).
- on the english wikipedia: Denis Robert, and Clearstream (general).
- Lire: Denis Robert, la justice aux trousses.
- Lire: Politis.fr.
- Read: Soutenons Denis Robert: Attac France apporte son total soutien au journaliste et écrivain Denis Robert victime d’un harcèlement judiciaire (200 visites d’huissiers, 30 procédures judiciaires en cours …). Les travaux de Denis Robert ont apporté des éclairages importants sur les paradis fiscaux et les dérives de la finance internationale, notamment sur le fonctionnement de la société Clearstream. (full text).
- Read: Défendons la liberté d’expression, soutenons Denis Robert;
- Read: Cartes de voeux pour soutenir Denis Robert;
- Read: Site du comité de soutien.
Denis Robert is a French journalist and writer, author of « Revelation$ » in 2001 with Ernest Backes, who was #3 of Cedel until he was fired in May 1983. He worked for Libération newspaper for 12 years, and is best known for being the first one to have accused Clearstream of having non-published accounts. After the publication of his book, Clearstream’s CEO, André Lussi was dismissed, and Belgian and French parliamentary commissions created. The only convictions to follow this controversy were convictions of Backes and others for libel.
He has written two other books about his investigation of Clearstream: « La Boite Noire » (« The Black Box ») in 2002, and « Clearstream: L’Enquete » (Clearstream : The Investigation) in 2006.
The last one focuses on another aspect of the Clearstream scandal, which implicates several high-ranking French government officials. In 2005, an investigative judge received anonymous letters with extensive Clearstream accounts information and records. Some of these accounts seemed to belong to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French Interior Minister, rival of President Jacques Chirac and his protege, Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister of France. Furthermore, the accounts were supposed to be the home of illegal bribe money, tied to a secret arms deal with Taiwan (Taiwan-frigates scandal). As the ensuing investigation showed, the records were obtained from Denis Robert under false pretenses by a Clearstream « insider » who had claimed he could help him with his investigation, but really worked for a French intelligence agency. The investigation also shows the documents were falsified and Nicolas Sarkozy was cleared.
In a later development, Dominique de Villepin is now under scrutiny for having allegedly ordered an investigation of Nicolas Sarkozy by French intelligence in order to discredit him and eliminate a political opponent. Some even claim that the falsification of the Clearstream records and the anonymous letters were engineered by Matignon (office of the Prime Minister). On the other hand, it was demonstrated that Sarkozy himself had knew long before he publicly admitted it that he was on the list of alleged holders of illegal Clearstream accounts, but pretended to not be in the known in order to make himself appear as a victim. (full text).
Elève brillant, il étudie la psycholinguistique avant d’être embauché par Libération, pour lequel il écrit pendant 12 ans. Il y est chargé des affaires politico-financières. Le sujet est vaste et Denis Robert, ne se contentant plus d’un simple article, devient écrivain. Il publie de nombreux essais dont ‘La justice ou le chaos’ : le livre a pour objet l’Appel de Genève, que Denis Robert lance en 1996 avec 7 grands magistrats anti-corruption. Il est alors contacté par Ernest Backes, ancien dirigeant de la chambre de compensation de Cedel International, ancêtre de Clearstream. Après deux ans d’enquête, il publie ‘Révélation$’. Le livre, dans lequel il accuse Cedel International et Clearstream de blanchiment d’argent au niveau mondial, fait l’effet d’une bombe. Denis Robert doit faire face à plus de cinquante procès pour diffamation. Alors que les poursuites sont finalement abandonnées en France où, en 2004, le tribunal de grande instance donne raison à Denis Robert, il est inculpé au Luxembourg en janvier 2006. Il risque une importante amende et la prison. En mars 2006, il rencontre Imad Lahoud, informaticien-trader qui s’intéresse à Clearstream. Il lui transmet un listing de comptes de Clearstream, identique à celui qui sera publié dans le presse. Denis Robert affirme aujourd’hui qu’il ne connaissait pas les intentions d’Imad Lahoud. Il se trouve néanmoins mêlé à l’affaire du corbeau qui, depuis la plainte de Nicolas Sarkozy, est devenue une véritable affaire d’Etat. Evène.fr.
links:
Denis Robert.com, Ottawa;