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Brazil seeks US cooperation in money laundering probe
Brazil will seek U.S. assistance in combating organized crime in its oil sector, said Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Thursday. This comes after a police investigation revealed that Delaware-based companies were laundering money to assist one of the country's worst tax dodgers. Haddad said that the issue could be on the bilateral agenda of Washington and Brasilia, as they look to reach a wider deal in light of the fact that U.S. president Donald Trump has begun lowering tariffs for some Brazilian products. Brazil's government has said that U.S. firms are used to launder money and disguise foreign investments. Haddad also said that he raised concerns with President Luiz inacio Lula da So about illegal U.S. arms shipments. He told reporters that he had "conveyed to President Lula" the importance of including the money laundering issue and illegal weapons exports to Brazil in the ongoing negotiations. Haddad said that the government could present to Washington footage of weapons arriving in Brazil from containers imported by the U.S. and show how money was being illegally funneled away from Brazil. The minister stated that "this partnership is crucial." If we want to prevent drugs from reaching Brazilian consumer markets, we must crack down on crime and prevent heavy arms from entering Brazil. REFINERY is Targeted Sources say that the main target of the police operation on Thursday was Refit, a privately owned refinery. Refit didn't immediately respond to our request for comment. Brazil's Tax Authority noted that the raid was a follow-up to an operation in August targeting money laundering and fraud involving billions of Reais, which included businesses connected with the First Capital Command - a major organized criminal gang. The federal revenue service, without naming the company in question, said that it would crack down on one Brazil's worst delinquent tax payers. This taxpayer owes the federal, state, and local governments more than 26 billion reais (about $4.9 billion). The revenue service reported that the group allegedly moved 72 billion reais a year via companies, funds, and offshore entities in order to conceal profits. At a press event in Sao Paulo, tax revenue secretary Robinson Barreirinhas stated, "We will close in on those who undermine the public security of Brazil from their mansions or upper floors in Faria Lima, Miami, and Europe." He said Delaware companies exploited tax rules that exempted them from U.S. taxes if they earned no local income. This left them untaxed both in the U.S. and Delaware, a scheme which is often linked to money laundering. ($1 = 5,35 reais). (Reporting from Marcela Ayres and Rodrigo Viga Gaier, in Brasilia; editing by Brad Haynes and Alexandra Hudson and Bill Berkrot.)
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AfDB and EIB loan Mauritania $275 mln to upgrade railways
The African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank signed a $275 million financing package to assist Mauritania in upgrading its main rail corridor. The lenders announced that the AfDB would contribute $150 million, and the EIB, $125 million, towards modernising the railway connecting iron ore mining in Zouerate in northeastern Mauritania to the Atlantic Port of Nouadhibou. The statement said that the deal, which was guaranteed by the European Union and signed in Rabat on the sidelines the Africa Investment Forum, was also guaranteed by the European Union. It said that the financing would enable Mauritania’s National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM) rehabilitate and upgrade its existing railway, and construct 42 kilometres new track connecting future mining sites in El Aouj Atomai. The company added that the money will be used to purchase locomotives, maintenance equipment and wagons for SNIM. Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi, Editing by Kirby Donovan
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Sweden launches new tender for winter power supply
The grid operator in Sweden announced on Thursday that it had launched a second tender to secure a strategic reserve of power for this winter, after the first attempt failed. This raised concerns about a possible supply shortage during peak demand. After failing to secure sufficient reserves in the first half of this year, the grid operator has decided to try again with a new framework. Svenska kraftnat announced in a press release that "a new method for assessing cost-effectiveness when reducing volume" will be used. The previous tender sought up to 800 Megawatts (MW), of backup electricity generation capacity, for the period between November 16 and March 15, next year. The tender failed because bids exceeded the price cap of 12700 Swedish crowns per MW. The TSO informed us by email that the maximum budget is 96 million crowns. Applications are due by December 10 for the new tender, which covers a period of January 15 through March 15, 2026. Uniper, a German utility, has already been affected by the failure of this initial attempt. They have mothballed their 335 MW oil fired power plant citing an uneconomical operation without reserve payments.
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Rheinmetall CEO: VW not currently in negotiations with Rheinmetall over Osnabrueck Site
Armin Papperger, the CEO of Rheinmetall, said that on Thursday his company was not in negotiations with Volkswagen over its Osnabrueck factory. Volkswagen announced last year that it was looking at alternative scenarios for future uses of the site, which raised hopes for a possible sale to protect workers and reduce the costs associated with restructuring. He told an association of foreign journalists that the investment in the factory by Rheinmetall depends on a specific contract. He said: "At this time, we do not intend to continue negotiations because the plants that we currently have at Rheinmetall are able to meet the current and future orders." Papperger visited this factory in early 2014 to see if it was a good candidate for conversion to military production. Rheinmetall announced that it will repurpose certain automotive sites into mainly making defence equipment to get away from the loss-making civil division and to take advantage of an increase in defence spending. Papperger said that the company could take over automakers such as Volkswagen, if conditions were right. Rheinmetall is growing quickly and has invested in new plants and acquisitions, as European countries pour billions of Euros into defence after Russia's invasion. The company is expanding its capabilities through the acquisition of the Luerssen Group’s warship division NVL and establishing a naval division. Papperger stated on Thursday that there are no plans to make any further acquisitions in order to boost the business of naval vessels.
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Italy sends Ukrainian suspect for Nord Stream blast to Germany
German federal prosecutors confirmed that a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating sabotage against the Nord Stream Gas pipeline in 2022, who was handed over by Italy's highest court last week after it had approved his transfer, arrived in Germany on Friday. The explosions in the Baltic Sea that destroyed the pipeline three years ago, severely reduced the Russian gas transit into Europe and squeezed energy supplies on the continental although Russia had already stopped delivering. Both Russia and Western nations have said that the incident was an attack of sabotage. Investigators spent many years trying to solve the mystery. SUSPECT DENIES ROLE IN ATTACKS Serhii, the man identified by German privacy laws, which generally prohibit full identification of suspects. He denies involvement in any attacks. His lawyer Nicola Canestrini said he was confident that his client would be acquitted in a German trial. German prosecutors accuse the man of being part of a group that planted devices near the Danish Island of Bornholm, in the Baltic. The suspect had been detained in Italy in Rimini on an arrest warrant issued by the European Union in August. He had also resisted attempts to have him transferred to Germany. The suspect faces charges including collusion in order to cause an explosive, anti-constitutional destruction and destruction of significant structures. The accused was transported from Italy today. "He is due to appear tomorrow before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice at Karlsruhe," said prosecutors. A court in Poland last month ruled that a second Ukrainian suspect sought by Germany for the bombings should not be handed over and ordered his release. (Reporting and writing by Tilman Blsshofer Editing by Ludwig Burger, Peter Graff and Madeline Chambers)
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Trafigura claims Gupta stole money from metals fraud to fund his distressed companies
Lawyers for commodity trader Trafigura accused Indian businessman Prateek gupta of siphoning funds from an alleged metals fraud worth $600 million to prop up their struggling business empire. Trafigura, a Geneva-based company, sued Gupta more than two years ago. It claimed that he was behind a scam where he and his firms agreed to deliver pure nickel but instead delivered scrap steel or other metals. Gupta claims that Trafigura employees designed the scheme at the heart of the case. Trafigura, however, has denied this claim repeatedly. Gupta admitted on the second day of his testimony in the long-running trial at a London High Court that the UG Group was going to run out of money by March 2021. This is partly because of problems related to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nathan Pillow, a Trafigura lawyer, also confirmed that his company was paid $500 million for pure Nickel but sent containers of lower-value metals. Gupta responded that a portion of the profit went towards increased shipping costs when Pillow asked. Where is the money?" "Did you steal it?" Pillow asked Gupta. The Trafigura fraud scheme was crucial to your survival. Gupta testified via video link from Dubai, where he resides: "I wasn't running the cashflow". Gupta repeatedly stated during his testimony, that he was not aware of operational details. Others were to blame. Gupta stated in a court filing that the trading with Trafigura for shipments labeled as nickel totaled 22,500 metric tonnes from October 2017 through May 2019. This will jump to 57.222 tons in 2020, and to 69.165 tons in 2021. Trafigura's lawyers claimed that Gupta had been involved in fraudulent transactions before the alleged Trafigura fraud. Gupta admitted that he was under investigation in India for fraud, but denied all allegations. His defence is based on his accusation that Trafigura staff devised a secret plan to replace metals in order to boost Trafigura’s position in the nickel markets. He claims that the undercover plan was devised in 2019, when he was told to boost nickel trading by Sokratis ikonomou, then the head nickel trader. Oikonomou denied being involved in fraud during testimony this week. (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise; Eric Onstad)
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Netherlands increases tax on private jets
The Dutch parliament approved on Thursday a plan for a tax increase on private jet travel starting in 2030. The rules will be applicable to aircraft that have 19 seats or less. Passengers on flights up to 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), will be charged 420 euros (486 dollars). The fee for those travelling between 2,000 km and 5,500km is 1,015 euro, while journeys over that distance are charged 2,100 euros. Private jets will be taxed based on distance in 2027, when all aviation taxes will move to a weight-based system. Between 2027 and 2030 the taxation of private jets will be the same as that for commercial flights. Distance-based pricing will see passengers paying just over 70 Euros for commercial flights that exceed 5,500 km. Short-haul flights will cost around 29 Euros, and long-haul flights will be roughly 47. The legislators who proposed this measure said that the principle "the polluter pays" should apply to even the richest and biggest emitters. Oxfam, The Guardian and the Stockholm Environment Institute conducted research that showed the richest 1 percent of the population emits more greenhouse gases than the 66% poorest. In their request for an increase in the distance-based private jet tax, the lawmakers stated that a significant portion of these emissions can be attributed to the use private aircraft. In June, France, Kenya and Spain, as well as Barbados, had pledged to tax private jets and premium-class flights. ($1 = 0.8633 euros) (Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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Russia's central Bank says G7 attempts to unlock Moscow's frozen assets are driving gold demand
The Russian central bank stated on Thursday that the G7 was trying to use billions in frozen Russian assets to increase their reserves. Gold is on track to have its largest annual rise since 1979. It has risen 59% this year, after reaching a record-high of $4,381 per troy ounce in October, on the back of safe-haven demands driven by geopolitical turmoil and U.S. Tariff uncertainty. According to the central bank, investor interest in gold is increasing due to global uncertainty. The central bank stated that "at the same time the precious metal receives additional support due to the steady demand of central banks from emerging market economies who continue to diversify international reserves amid discussions between the G7 regarding the use frozen Russian assets." Euroclear is a central securities depository in Brussels that holds 185 billion euro of the 300 billion dollars in frozen Russian assets. As of November 14, Russia's gold reserves and foreign exchange reserves totaled $734.1 billion. (1 euro = 0.8630 dollars) (Reporting and editing by Guy Faulconbridge; Maxim Rodionov, Writing).
Source: EU investigation is underway against MSC and BlackRock's bid for Hutchison Barcelona terminal.
BlackRock and MSC’s bid to buy most of CK Hutchison’s global port operations is facing a major obstacle in Europe. EU antitrust regulators are set to investigate the Spanish part of the deal.
CK Hutchison, owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Kashing, wants to sell 80% of its stake in the $22.8billion ports business. This includes 43 ports in 23 different countries. It is a politically sensitive transaction that has become entangled in tensions between China and the United States.
BlackRock and MSC could be asked to make concessions in exchange for the clearance of the Spanish deal, as a result of the likely full-scale European Commission investigation, which was previously unknown.
The Commission refused to comment. BlackRock, MSC, and Hutchison have not responded to a number of emails asking for comments.
CK Hutchison holds interests in several ports in Europe, including those in Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands. It wasn't immediately clear whether the other European components of the global deal would also be scrutinized. The non-EU parts of the deal are outside the EU review jurisdiction.
BARCELONA TERMINAL AQUISITION UNDER UE SCRUTINY
Washington and Beijing have become very politicised over the overall package which includes two important ports along Panama Canal.
In the Spanish part of the deal, Terminal Investment Limited Holdings (TiL), an arm of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company based in Switzerland, and BlackRock would acquire joint control over Hutchison’s terminal at Barcelona Port.
The terminal is able to handle multiple mega-ships at once and boasts an eight-track facility, making it the EU’s largest rail terminal along the Mediterranean Sea. It connects the port traffic from and to Southern Europe.
TiL operates a terminal in the Spanish port city of Valencia.
After its preliminary review ends on December 10th, the European Commission (which is the EU's competition enforcer) will open a full investigation.
Full-scale EU investigation typically lasts around four months and can result in firms making concessions, including divestments, to address concerns about competition and gain regulatory approval. Reporting by FooYunChee; editing by Adam Jourdan, Joe Bavier
(source: Reuters)