User Rating: 4 / 5
His name is Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, an Iranian national currently in Federal custody in New York, and charged with multiple violations of US sanctions on Iran, by concealing the role of Iran in US Dollar payments through the American banking system. The charges are:
(1) Money Laundering.
(2) Conspiracy to defraud the United States.
(3) Conspiracy to violate IEEPA.
(4) Bank Fraud.
(5) Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud.
(6) Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering.
The senior executive, and owner, of Malta-based and incorporated Pilatus Bank, Nejad faces a maximum of 125 years in Federal Prison for his crimes. So why is he the subject of a CBI passport article?
It appears that Mr. Nejad acquired four (4) CBI passports from St Kitts & Nevis, according to reliable reports. The fact that the CBI passport agency in SKN issued him so many identity documents speak volumes about the ineffectiveness of the CBI program's operation.
(A) His attorney, on spin control, has attempted to diffuse the situation by claiming that two of the passports had all their visa pages filled in, and one, not completely full, contained some sort of "authorization" (Visa ??) for the United Kingdom, This is a flagrant lie, as St Kitts passports holders, as nationals of a Commonwealth state, enjoy visa-free access to the UK.
(B) This nonsense about two passports being completely full is another falsehood. Anyone can have extra pages appended to an existing passport, and many jurisdictions do not even stamp your passport any more.
(C) Our Iranian sources have stated that these passports contain different names, and/or different dates and places of birth.? Money launderers, which Mr. Nejad is alleged to be in the indictment, frequently alter the spellings of their names, and birthdate information, slightly, to defeat government computer searches at Customs.
(D) Is one these passports a diplomatic passport? That might explain why Nejad has more than one. Of course, he's no diplomat, not accredited or posted anywhere, a violation of UN treaty laws.
The case is a classic illustration of the shortcomings of the current St Kitts CBI program; that program must be the subject of a major upgrade, if it is to survive, and prosper. Otherwise, CBI passport holders may find themselves detained an international customs kiosks, interviewed at length, and even detained, all because St Kitts has failed to raise its program to an acceptable level.
Chronicles of Monte Friesner - Financial Crime Analyst 
Contributed by Kenneth Rijock - Financial Crime Consultant
