Posted on 07/25/2004 5:37:23 PM PDT by wagglebee
Cuba deposited $3.9 billion in a Swiss bank, and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami wants to know where the money came from.
Cuba says the money, deposited between 1996 and 2003 in the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), came from legitimate sources.
According to the state-run newspaper Granma, the Cuban government said the cash was "obtained from sales in the hard-currency stores, tourism-related activities and other commercial services in foreign banks."
Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-born Florida Republican and chairwoman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, wants to know the source of those deposits, and the Miami Herald reports that she has been badgering officials of UBS and the U.S. Federal Reserve for answers.
"That's an awful lot of money," Ros-Lehtinen told the Herald, which says that according to the latest answers she received from UBS officials Wednesday, Havana delivered up to $3.9 billion in U.S. currency to the bank in 1,900 transactions from 1996 to April 2003 for deposit to one Cuban government bank account at UBS.
But the congresswoman suggests the money may have come from illegal sources and, according to the Miami Herald, she has requested a full briefing in September from UBS officials.
"Given the ... significant amount of money we are dealing with, it is doubtful that these ... funds derived from tourism but, rather, could have stemmed from one of Castro's nefarious activities, such as drug trafficking," she wrote in a July 12 letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Forbes has recently reported that Fidel Castro is one of the world's wealthiest leaders.
Meanwhile, Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Carlos Zarate told the Herald Thursday that the U.S. attorney's office in New York is investigating a "potential nexus out of New York" with the Cuba-UBS deal, but declined to go into details.
The Herald explained that the saga of Cuba's dealings with UBS started within another mystery: the $762 million in U.S. cash that American troops in Iraq found in hideouts linked to Saddam Hussein.
That cash, the Herald reported, was traced to several foreign banks, including UBS, that had been contracted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to exchange new U.S. dollars for worn-out bills being taken out of circulation, in a program known as the Extended Custodial Inventory. The program specifically barred the foreign banks from doing business with countries under U.S. sanctions, including Communist Cuba, as UBS had been doing.
Last year, the Federal Reserve Board canceled its contract with UBS and fined it $100 million for the violations.
The Herald says it remains unclear why UBS employees violated the U.S. regulations and then tried to conceal the Cuban deals by altering the bank's records.
So far, no one has been charged with any crimes.
Yleem Poblete, staff director for Ros-Lehtinen's subcommittee, told the Herald that the majority of the transactions with Cuba took place from 1996, when the Federal Reserve contracted with UBS for the ECI program, through April 2003. Poblete added that the cash was deposited into a Cuban government account at UBS that was opened before the Federal Reserve contracted with UBS.
Castro money found in IRAQ. Rumors of terrorists training in Cuba abound in the Cuban community in Miami. Castro continues to get a free pass from every USA administration including this one; However we will vote for Bush (Big Time). Reports of Castro giving IRAQ reports of transmissions put out from the USA and intercepted by Castro in his Lourdes Soviet built listening base.
Could it be drug money? Hmmmm?
FYI :) This should be good.
The fastest way to rid the world of the regime is to lift the travel restrictions, and lift the embargo.
40+ years of the embargo and el Jefe has not lost one bit of his power.
If we find out where the money came from...what are we gonna do about it? Scowl and wag our finger?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.