Author: adminficci

UPDATE 1-Former wine collector gets 10 years in prison for counterfeiting

An Indonesian man, once considered one of the world’s top wine collectors but who U.S. prosecutors later called a “kingpin of counterfeit” for selling millions of dollars of fake French wine to the wealthy, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in Manhattan federal court on Thursday. Rudy Kurniawan used his refined palate and luxurious lifestyle to hoodwink some of the world’s most discriminating oenophiles with his “bold, grandiose, unscrupulous, but destined-to-fail con,” U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said in imposing the sentence, along with $28.4 million in restitution to compensate seven unsuspecting buyers. The sentence would serve as a deterrent to other counterfeiters, the judge said. “The public at large needs to know that our food and drink are safe and can trust what’s on the label,” Berman said, “and not some potentially unsafe, homemade witch’s brew.”

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/usa-crime-wine-idINL2N0QD1WJ20140807

Mother-of-two made £400,000 selling fake Mulberry bags at ‘handbag parties’ before spending cash on private school fees and holidays

A woman who made more than £400,000 selling fake designer handbags spent the money on school fees for her children and luxury goods for herself. Fiona Taylor, 44, of Newton on Ouse, North Yorkshire, organised ‘handbag parties’ where she sold counterfeit bags for hundreds of pounds each, telling buyers they were the real thing. The mother of two laundered cheques through her son’s bank account and spent the money on luxury goods, private school fees, holidays and a new car, a court heard.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2718843/Mother-two-400-000-selling-fake-Mulberry-bags-handbag-parties-spending-cash-private-school-fees-holidays.html

Reduction in Piracy Can Create More Jobs

BANGALORE: Taking advantage of lax laws governing piracy and smuggling, many people who deal in counterfeit items manage to continue their business after paying fines, said P C Jha, former chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs and now a member of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Speaking at a seminar on ‘Curbing Counterfeiting and Smuggling’ organised by FICCI, Jha said a 10 per cent reduction in piracy in the IT sector would lead to the creation of 1 lakh jobs, according to estimates. “The laws provide for a two year-jail term or a maximum of `2 lakh fine. When a person makes crores from piracy, `2 lakh is peanuts. Also cases go on for ten years or so. The laws are not strict enough,” he said.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bangalore/Reduction-in-Piracy-Can-Create-More-Jobs/2014/08/06/article2366502.ece

Bill defines smuggling as economic sabotage

The partylist group Abono has filed a bill to fight the smuggling of agricultural products, making the illegal activity a form of economic sabotage. Rosendo So, Abono chair, said House Bill No. 4767, known as the “Direct and Technical Smuggling as Economic Sabotage Act of 2014,” would help local producers and manufacturers compete and eliminate unfair competition. “Imagine the taxes lost because of smuggling and its impact on local farmers who cannot compete with the low prices of smuggled goods,” said So, who is also president of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura. So, citing information gathered by Abono, said a total of P65-billion worth of agricultural products like rice, pork and poultry, were smuggled into the country in 2012 and 2013. “Considering the far-reaching effect of smuggling on the Philippine economy and on Filipinos regardless of their socio-economic status, smuggling should be considered a form of economic sabotage,” Abono Representatives Francisco Emmanuel Ortega and Conrado Estrella III said in the bill’s explanatory note.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/626665/bill-defines-smuggling-as-economic-sabotage

Spot the fake apps

Dangerous, fake smartphone apps lurk in app stores

Hackers are making fake apps to scam you, steal your personal information and rip you off. The fake apps appear in the app stores and are disguised to appear like the real thing. The danger is bigger than just wasting a couple bucks on an app that doesn’t work. They could hack your Facebook, for example, or Twitter,” said Orlando tech expert Carlos Carbonell of Echo Interaction Group. “They can also access banking info.”

http://www.news4jax.com/news/spot-the-fake-apps/27321370

Better steps required to curb smuggling: Rajnath Singh

Government on Tuesday said current measures are not enough and better steps are required at international borders to prevent smuggling of narcotics. Home Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Lok Sabha that while smuggling of narcotics has been taking place for a long time, government keeps taking steps to check the trend. The steps include fencing of border and flood lighting. He said the present steps are not enough and still better measures are required to curb smuggling.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/better-steps-required-to-curb-smuggling-rajnath-singh_952583.html

From Iran and Afghanistan: Smuggled POL products continue to flow into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has conceded that despite its efforts petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) products are continuously being smuggled into Pakistan through Iran and Afghanistan borders. In a statement submitted in the upper house of the parliament in response to a question, the FBR claimed that it was very sensitive to smuggling of the Iranian POL products.

“[This smuggling takes place] through non-specific routes across the borders and uninhabited beaches on the sea, where only Coast Guards and Frontier Corps (FC) have their presence with matching human resource and firepower to counter the smugglers in these areas of Balochistan,” it said. According to the FBR, the average monthly quantity and volume of POL products smuggled from Iran and duly confiscated by Customs authorities in the current calendar year is 131,238 litres.

Tobacco: Confronting Challenges of Smuggling and Illicit Trade

The world has long been awakened to the harsh reality of terrorism and criminal money laundering. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency has brought home the reality of terrorism with even more poignancy. Terrorism typically needs to be funded and globally, it has since been established that illicit trade in tobacco is one of the major avenues by which terrorism is funded. Since the dawn of terrorism, procuring finances sufficient to sustain terror operations has been a priority for the terrorists. The illicit sale of cigarettes and other commodities by terrorist groups and their supporters has become a crucial part of their funding activities.

However, one of the measures which anti-tobacco activists have been advocating to reduce tobacco consumption because of its widely-acknowledged harmful effects, is the raising of taxes payable by tobacco manufacturing companies. The argument is that once the tobacco producer is heavily taxed, it would be forced to raise the price of its cigarettes, which will now be beyond the financial capability of the ordinary consumers who would then be forced to either reduce their smoking expenditure or quit smoking totally.