PERU INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 LIMA 005392

SIPDIS

JUSTICE FOR OIA AND AFMLS
TREASURY FOR FINCEN
STATE FOR INL/LP, WHA, EB/OIA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR EFIN KCRM PREL PTER PE
SUBJECT: PERU INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY
REPORT PART II FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERING


1. The following is Post's submission as Part II of the
2004-2005 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
(INCSR),regarding financial crimes and money laundering.

OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION
--------------


2. Narcotics-related and other money laundering is taking
place, but existing laws do not provide reliable or adequate
mechanisms to estimate its scale. Such money laundering may
be connected with narcotics-related activity originating in
Peru, Colombia or elsewhere in the region, and may involve
proceeds of narcotics sales in the United States. Peru's
economy is primarily cash-based, facilitating possible money-
laundering. The economy is approximately 65 percent
dollarized, so money laundering is likely conducted
primarily in U.S. currency. Post has no specific
information on the degree to which money laundering here is
controlled by drug-trafficking or terrorist groups, but such
links are probable.


3. Numerous former government officials, most from the
prior Fujimori Administration, are under investigation for
corruption-related crimes, including money laundering.
These officials have been accused of transferring tens of
millions of dollars in proceeds from illicit activities
(e.g. bribes, kickbacks, etc.) into offshore accounts in the
Cayman Islands, the U.S., and/or Switzerland. The Attorney
General, a Special Prosecutor, the office of the
Superintendent of Banks (SBS) and the Peruvian Congress have
conducted many investigations, some of which are ongoing,
involving dozens of former GOP officials. However, the
money laundering laws prior to 2002 were very limited in
scope. Therefore, winning money-laundering convictions for
conduct prior to 2002 will be challenging.


4. The Public Prosecutor has won two money-laundering
convictions in 2005. One case was related to public
corruption. The other involved money laundering of drug
proceeds. There are three cases currently underway in the
Peruvian court system.


5. While Peru has made a number of important advances in
its money-laundering regime, there remain several critical
deficiencies. The justice system moves extremely slowly,
with cases taking years to develop. There are a plethora of
financial investigating units, with diverse police divisions
each having their own small units. These units frequently
have little or no expertise in tracking or analyzing complex
money-laundering activities. Corruption is endemic within
the judicial system, handicapping many investigations,
possibly including money-laundering cases. Finally, the
informal sector of the economy is very large, greater than
50 percent of the overall economy, which means that much of
the money-laundering activity is taking place beyond the
view and reach of Peru's anti-money laundering regime.

PERU'S MONEY LAUNDERING LAW
--------------


6. In June 2002, Peru adopted substantial changes to its
existing money laundering regime, significantly broadening
the definition of money laundering beyond a crime associated
with narco-trafficking. Prior to the changes, money
laundering was only a crime when linked to narcotics
trafficking or "narcoterrorism," and included nine predicate
offenses that did not include corruption, bribery or fraud.
The definition of money laundering now includes all proceeds
from a crime. There remains confusion, however, on the part
of some GOP officials and attorneys, over whether money
laundering must still be linked to the earlier list of
predicate offenses.


7. The amended money laundering law is brief and lacks
implementing regulations. U.S. Treasury and other observers
consider that the GOP will need to significantly expand and
revise the law and develop implementing regulations to make
the law effective and applicable in practice.


8. Separate regulations prohibit laundering money through
casinos, but the GOP lacks sufficient resources to
adequately supervise this $1 billion industry. Peru's
exchange houses, which are legal, also function with little
governmental supervision.


9. In July 2005, Peru passed a law to require that
individuals and entities transporting more than $10,000 in
currency or monetary instruments into or out of Peru file
reports with customs. Customs is forwarding those reports
to Peru's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) every three
weeks.

THE FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT
--------------


10. Peru's Financial Intelligence Unit was created by law
in April 2002 to collect, analyze and disseminate
information on money laundering and other financial crimes.
Supporting modifications to Peru's Penal Code were also
passed. The law directed that the FIU be an autonomous
body, reporting information on possible financial crimes to
the Attorney General's office. The FIU secures its budget
from the Prime Minister's office, international sources and
in small measure from assets seized as a result of FIU
actions.


11. The law that established the FIU mandates that a broad
range of financial and non-financial entities in Peru,
including banks, companies, stock funds or brokers, casinos,
real estate agencies, lotteries and customs agencies,
provide the FIU with information on financial transactions
of a suspicious nature. The law requires that these
entities know the identities of their customers. The FIU is
also empowered to request financial transaction information
from exchange houses, metal and antiques traders, travel
agencies and a variety of Peruvian government agencies.
Existing Peruvian bank secrecy rules under Peru's
constitution limit the effectiveness of the FIU law's
disclosure requirements. There are two bills under
consideration in Congress to amend the constitution to
strengthen the disclosure requirements.


12. Financial institutions are required to report and keep
records of individual currency transactions of over $10,000
or transactions totaling $50,000 in one month. Non-
financial institutions, such as exchange houses, casinos,
lotteries or others, must report individual transactions
over $2500 or monthly transactions over $10,000. Major
institutions are required to appoint supervisory-level
compliance officials to ensure compliance with reporting
requirements. The implementing regulations direct that non-
compliance with reporting requirements be sanctioned by
respective institutions "according to applicable law."
Peru, however, has not adopted "due diligence" or "banker
negligence" laws making individual bankers responsible if
their institutions launder money.


13. The FIU law and regulations emphasize training of
banking and government personnel to identify suspicious
financial activities and on the establishment of systems to
prevent money laundering before it occurs. The law protects
reporting individuals (bankers or others) who cooperate with
law enforcement agencies from any legal liability for money
laundering conducted through their institutions. Finally,
the law provides for the confidentiality of information
gathered by the FIU and allows the FIU to exchange
information with international authorities and/or with FIUs
in other countries.

FIU NOW FULLY FUNCTIONAL
--------------


14. After an initial delay, the FIU is up and running and
appears to be fully functioning with a staff of 52. As of
November 2005, the FIU had received 869 reports of
suspicious transactions. Of those, the FIU asked the
submitting entity for additional information on
approximately 70 percent of the reports. Peru joined the
Egmont group of international FIU's in June 2005, and was
elected to chair the Financial Action Task Force South,
headquartered in Buenos Aries, Argentina.


15. As of November 2005, the FIU had sent 36 reports of
money laundering to the Public Prosecutor for investigation.
Of those cases, six investigations had been completed and
were being presented to the judiciary for prosecution. The
FIU assisted the Public Prosecutor in the prosecution of two
cases. Although the cases did not originate with the FIU,
the assistance in analyzing banking information was
fundamental in gaining two convictions for money laundering.

CRIMINAL PENALTIES
--------------


16. The money laundering law establishes penalties of three
to 15 years imprisonment for money laundering and associated
crimes. Previously, the Peruvian penal code imposed a
mandatory penalty of life imprisonment upon bank and finance
officials convicted of money laundering (more severe than
the penalties for drug trafficking). While the amended law
may eventually facilitate prosecutions, its brevity and lack
of implementing regulations are likely to limit its
effectiveness.

ASSET FORFEITURE
--------------


17. Peru currently lacks comprehensive and effective asset
forfeiture legislation. The financial investigative office
of the Peruvian National Police's Directorate of
Counternarcotics has seized numerous properties over the
last several years, but few were turned over to the police
to support counternarcotics efforts, and no clear mechanism
exists to distribute seized assets among government
agencies. A bill to amend the asset forfeiture regime is
being considered by the congressional committee with
jurisdiction.

TERRORIST FINANCE
--------------


18. The Peruvian Congress approved Peru's accession to the
International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism on 26 Oct 2001. The Office of the
Superintendent of Banks routinely circulates to all
financial institutions in Peru updated lists of individuals
and entities that have been included on the UN 1267
Sanctions Committee's consolidated list as being linked to
Usama bin Ladin and Al Qa'ida, as well as those that have
been designated as terrorism financiers by the USG. The
Superintendent of Banks provides Post with copies of the
responses of all financial institutions.


19. However, the Superintendent of Banks does not have the
authority to seize or freeze assets of individuals involved
in terrorist financing. In the event that such assets are
identified, the Superintendent must petition a judge to
seize or freeze them. A final judicial decision is then
needed to dispose of or use such assets. To date, no assets
connected to designated individuals or entities have been
identified, frozen or seized by banks operating in Peru.
Foreign Ministry officials are working with other GOP
agencies to complete the necessary legal revisions that will
permit asset freezing actions.


20. Finally, to date Peru has taken no actions to thwart
the misuse of charitable and/or non-profit entities that can
be used as conduits for the financing of terrorism.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND SUPPORT
--------------


21. The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Technical
Assistance (OTA) and Post developed a two-year technical
assistance program to help Peru fight money laundering,
other financial crimes and corruption. Post arranged
funding through the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) to
support a resident Treasury advisor, who worked in Peru from
November 1, 2003 of October 31, 2005. The resident advisor
worked closely with FIU staff to help them expand their
operations and arranged FIU staff visits to the U.S., Spain
and Guatemala and brought international experts to Peru to
train FIU and other officials.


22. The resident advisor also coordinated assistance to the
GOP in three other areas: 1) developing a strategic plan to
implement an anti-money laundering regime; 2) developing a
strategic plan to identify, investigate and prosecute money
laundering cases; and 3) improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of anti-corruption investigations. One
notable outcome in 2005 was the passage of legislation
requiring that persons carrying more than $10,000 in
currency notify customs upon entering the country.


23. The NAS of the U.S. Embassy in Peru budgeted $250,000
for the purchase of a computer system for the FIU. The
system was purchased and installed in July 2005. The OTA
funded $50,000 in computer equipment for the anti-money
laundering unit of the Peruvian National Police. In June
2005, an OTA advisor gave a presentation on regulation of
the gaming industry to more than 100 representatives of the
Office of Prosecutors. In August 2005, FinCEN funded the
travel and lodging for three Peruvian participants for a one-
week money laundering training program in Vienna, Virginia.
OTA funded an additional two positions.


24. In 2005, OTA and the Drug Enforcement Administration in
Peru worked closely on a project related to the organizing
of the Peruvian National Police and Customs presence at
Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru. The
project helped enhance the coordination between the two
organizations and create a more cohesive operation. OTA
worked with Peruvian Customs to provide a two-week training
program on detecting and interdicting illegal and undeclared
bulk cash shipments. The Department of Homeland Security,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided the training.


25. Finally, the GOP is also working with GAFISUD, the IDB,
the UN, Spain, Colombia and other organizations and
countries on cooperative efforts to fight money laundering
and corruption in Peru.
STRUBLE