10  theSun | FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 2009

news without borders

Stanford goes missing as worried investors pull funds

WASHINGTON: Authorities were
trying to track down Texas billionaire
financier Allen Stanford yesterday, as
fraud charges against the cricket im-
presario prompted panicked investors
to withdraw cash from his banks.
Two days after the US Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) accused
Stanford, 58, of perpetrating “a fraud of
shocking magnitude”, officials were still
in the dark about his whereabouts – as
were close members of his family.
Authorities in the Caribbean island
of Antigua, the center of Stanford’s
financial empire, and in parts of South
situation, and faulting oversight by
regulators in the United States.
Peru’s securities regulator suspend-
ed operations for 30 days at the local
office of Stanford Financial Group.
In an interview with the Houston
Chronicle newspaper, Stanford’s 81-
year-old father James said he under-
stood that authorities were searching
for his son, but insisted he had no idea
where his son could be.
“I’d spoken to him a week or so ago
– he’d called – about problems with
the business climate in general, but
nothing of this magnitude,” he said.
involved in laundering drug money for Clients of
Mexico’s powerful Gulf cartel. Stanford Bank
ABC News, citing unnamed federal queue up at
officials, said Mexican police detained this branch
one of Stanford’s private planes and in Caracas,
found checks inside believed to be Venezuela,
linked to the ultra-violent cartel. to withdraw
The network also reported that their money.
Stanford spent US$8 million in Wash-
ington wooing lobbyists and legislators,
and that red-faced lawmakers, includ-
ing former presidential candidate Sena-
tor John McCain, were scrambling to
return or donate thousands of dollars
Stanford gave to their campaigns.

America meanwhile sought to quell
fears among depositors as big queues
formed outside branches of his bank.
Venezuela yesterday took control
of a local bank owned by Stanford,
stressing that the decision was not
related to its own “stable” financial
“I cannot imagine, I cannot believe,
I will not believe what is being alleged
actually happened. I cannot believe
that my son would run.”
Reports also emerged Wednesday
that the FBI has launched an inves-
tigation into whether Stanford was
In Ecuador, transactions at the
Stanford Financial Group were tem-
porarily suspended on Wednesday and
Stanford representatives were barred
from engaging in any trading or other
business in the Quito stock market.
In Antigua, hundreds of people
queued up at the Stanford-owned Bank
of Antigua to withdraw funds. For the
past two decades, Stanford has been
based in the Caribbean, where he built
a reputation as a cricket patron.
EPA
The SEC has filed civil charges
against Stanford for what they called a
fraud “of shocking magnitude” in selling
US$9.2 billion in securities, “promising ...
improbable high interest rates”. – AFP

Obama unveils plan to tackle briefs

20,000 applicants vie
for Australia’s dream job

housing crisis forecast sharply, saying the economy

MESA (Arizona): President Barack
Obama pledged up to US$275 billion
(RM1 trillion) on Wednesday to help
stem a wave of home foreclosures,
part of a broad effort using massive
sums of government money to lift the
country out of recession.
Up to 9 million families would be
given the chance to refinance their
mortgages under the plan, adminis-
tration officials said. He unveiled the
plan in Arizona, a state hard hit by
home foreclosures.
Obama, who a day earlier signed
into law a landmark US$787 billion
(RM2.9 trillion) economic stimulus
package, said his housing plan
would counter a cycle of mortgage
defaults, plummeting home values
and financial-market turmoil.
“A lost home often begins with a
lost job. Many businesses have laid
off workers for a lack of revenue
and available capital. Credit has
was likely to shrink by between 0.5%
and 1.3% this year, weighed down by
rising unemployment, frozen credit
and the housing crisis.
The home foreclosure plan fea-
become scarce as the markets have tures a US$75 billion (RM276.7 bil-
been overwhelmed by the collapse lion) fund made up of US$50 billion
of securities backed by failing mort- (RM184.5 billion) from the US$700
gages,” Obama said in a speech at a billion (RM2.6 trillion) financial
high school in Mesa. bailout fund approved last year and
“In the end, the home mortgage up to $25 billion (RM92 billion) from Terence
crisis, the financial crisis, and this housing finance firms Fannie Mae Fernandez:
broader economic crisis are inter- and Freddie Mac. It also draws on up
Tough call
connected,” he added. to US$200 billion (RM738 billion) au-
The plan goes much further than thorised by last year’s housing bill. to make
previous government efforts to ad- “All of us are paying a price for
pg 14
dress the foreclosure crisis. In a break this home mortgage crisis. And all
from past programmes, it would help of us will pay an even steeper price
borrowers who have not yet missed if we allow this crisis to continue to
a monthly mortgage payment but are deepen,” Obama said.
straining to keep up. The plan will enlist Fannie Mae
Still, financial markets reacted and Freddie Mac to do much of
skeptically to the plan. US stock the heavy lifting. Up to 5 million
prices dipped after government data homeowners still making payments
showed a drop in housing starts and who cannot qualify for conventional
permits to record lows, portending refinancing because their home
more weakness in the housing mar- values have dropped could refi-
ket despite Obama’s plan. The US nance through Fannie and Freddie.
Federal Reserve cut its 2009 economic – Reuters
UBS agrees to identify tax
dodgers, pays RM2.8 billion
WASHINGTON: Swiss banking giant UBS trademark account secrecy, which helped
AG agreed to pay US$780 million (RM2.8 cement its role as a global banking centre
billion) and identify certain US customers but also tainted it with accusations of be-
in a deal to resolve criminal fraud charges ing a haven for “dirty” money.
that it assisted rich American clients In exchange, it frees UBS from
evade taxes, the Justice Department said prosecution over its actions. The deal
on Wednesday. also comes a week before a US Senate
It said that Switzerland’s largest hearing aimed at pressuring UBS to give
bank has entered into what is known more information about Americans who
as a deferred prosecution agreement use Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying
on charges of conspiring to defraud the taxes.
United States by impeding the Internal UBS acknowledged that it helped US
Revenue Service (IRS). taxpayers open accounts that concealed
Department officials said the agree- their identities from the IRS, the depart-
ment was unprecedented in pulling aside ment said. It said about 17,000 of 20,000
Switzerland’s much-vaunted tradition of US cross-border clients concealed their
bank secrecy and described it as one of identities and the existence of their ac-
the biggest settlements ever. They said counts, with US$20 billion (RM73.8 billion)
UBS admitted to helping US taxpayers in assets, from the IRS.
hide accounts from the IRS. Some of these clients are unindicted
The UBS charges and agreement co-conspirators.
represented the latest court develop- In an unprecedented move, UBS,
ments in a long-running, high-profile under orders from Swiss market regu-
investigation. lators, agreed to immediately provide
In January, the former head of UBS the US government with the identities
AG’s wealth management business, of, and account information for, certain
Raoul Weil, was formally declared a United States customers, the depart-
fugitive after failing to surrender to US ment said.
authorities on charges of conspiring to UBS has also agreed to expeditiously
help wealthy Americans hide assets from exit the business of providing banking
US tax authorities. services to United States clients with
The deal further cracks Switzerland’s undeclared accounts, it said. – Reuters
SYDNEY: An Osama bin Laden impostor and someone claiming to
work for the pope are among the 20,000 vying for the highly paid job
of looking after a tropical island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australian
tourism officials said yesterday. Applications for the Hamilton Island
sinecure are due this weekend. The successful jobseeker gets a
six-figure pay packet and rent-free luxury accommodation for six
months in return for doing not much other than keeping a blog on
lazy days, feeding fish, plucking leaves out of the pool and fetching
the mail. The US, Italy, Germany and UK are providing the most
jobseekers. Fewer than one in 20 of the 60-second video applica-
tions are from Australians. The 50 finalists will be announced on
March 2, with one wildcard candidate to be named on March 24.
The winner will be unmasked on May 6. – dpa
Cloned wolves to be mated
to test reproduction ability
SEOUL: One of the world’s first cloned wolves will mate with
another clone to test their reproductive ability in an unprec-
edented experiment, a South Korean cloning expert said
yesterday. Snuwolffy, born in October 2005, will pair with
Minguk, a male clone born in August 2006, Seoul National
University researcher Lee Byeong-Chun said. Lee and his
team are credited with creating the world’s first cloned dog,
an Afghan hound named Snuppy, in 2005. The cloned dogs
produced offspring last year in the world’s first successful
breeding of cloned canines. The male will be brought in April
to Seoul Grand Park zoo where Snuwolffy lives. – AFP
Philip Morris must pay widow RM30m
NEW YORK: A Florida court ordered US tobacco giant Philip Mor-
ris to pay US$8 million (RM29.6 million) to the widow of a lung
cancer victim on Wednesday, in a case that could set a precedent
for 8,000 similar trials in the state. The jury rejected Elian Hess’
demand for US$130 million (RM481 million) compensation, arguing
that her husband Stuart Hess was partly responsible for his death
since he smoked three packs a day of Benson & Hedges before he
died at age 55 in 1997. But after nine hours of deliberations the jury
ordered the cigarette maker to pay US$2 million (RM7.4 million)
in compensatory damages to Elaine, US$1 million (RM3.7 million)
to her son David and US$5 million (RM18.5 million) in punitive
damages. Philip Morris said it will appeal the judgment. – AFP
Bibi in pole position to become Israel PM
JERUSALEM: Hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu
yesterday gained pole position to become Israel’s next prime
minister as ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman backed his
bid to form a government. The support from Lieberman’s
Yisrael Beitenu party means Netanyahu, a former premier
popularly known as Bibi, can count on the support of 65 of
the 120 members of parliament. “We recommend Bibi Netan-
yahu, but only as part of a wider government,” Lieberman
told President Shimon Peres. “We need a government with
the three largest parties, Likud, Kadima and Yisrael Beitenu,”
said Lieberman.But the governing Kadima’s response was
lukewarm at best. “Kadima must serve the people on the op-
position benches,” said Finance Minister Roni Bar-on. – AFP
Accused in Politkovskaya trial acquitted
MOSCOW: A Russian jury yesterday acquitted all the accused in
the trial over the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya
after three months of hearings that failed to shed light on the
crime. None of the four accused had been charged with pulling the
trigger or being the mastermind of the 2006 killing of the investiga-
tive reporter who was highly critical of current Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin. “They have neither found the person who ordered
the killing, the organisers nor the people who committed the
crime,” said the Politkovskaya family’s lawyer, Karinna Moskalenko.
State prosecutor Yulia Safina said they planned to appeal. – AFP