Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World

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While reading this book, I can't help but think how vulnerable the picture of the ideological progress is that we as a civilized global community have come to believe. Contrary to how we general people see that the world either runs or should run on democracy or meritocracy, it actually runs on kleptocracy where money earned through corruption by depriving the mass are circulated and shared, scavenged and plundered by the powerful people using the power of the very institutions that were set-up to safeguard the interests of the mass. From oligarchs to mafia to politicians to bankers and many in-between, manipulate laws, change facts, kill, torture, obliterate people and their lives and livelihoods to keep the stream of blood money flowing unabated. Philosophically, this sets the question, where are we headed? Are we still living in a society where the Machiavelli's Prince should be the text book for everyone to life a prosperous life? Is prosperity and the high-flying life that we are so obtrusively bombarded with everyday by means of commercial advertisements and promotions come at the cost of kleptocracy? If in the higher echelons of power and influence, we haven't fundamentally changed from our ideological/evolutionary drives that we acquired 2 million years ago then what all that we consider as "progress" stands for? Ultimately, I read this book during Russian invasion on Ukraine, as I wanted to figure out why do the British government is so very reluctant to freeze Russian oligarchs’ assets? The key, as it turns out, lies in the difference between tax evasion and money laundering. Perhaps, unsurprisingly to many, myself included, the characters are a mix of oligarchs, henchmen, politicians, regulators and investigators. Burgis's story centres on Kazakhstan, and its corrupt president (1991-2019) Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the men and few women who did [still do] his bidding to keep the illegal money flowing in. A Harper Collins UK spokesperson said it was “delighted that this egregious case of lawfare has been dismissed”. Andrew Caldecott QC, for Burgis and HarperCollins, said in written arguments that the ‘historical allegations of corruption, which connect with the suspicious nature of the deaths … are not directed at the board of the claimant … but at the trio and/or individuals connected with the trio’: namely, the three billionaire founders of ENRC, Alexander Machkevitch, Patokh Chodiev and the late Alijan Ibragimov.

Tobitt, Charlotte (2 March 2022). "Judge dismisses libel claim over FT journalist Tom Burgis' book". Press Gazette . Retrieved 2 March 2022. Her new book ranges more widely—too widely. She begins with the decision by America’s Supreme Court in 2016 that voided the influence-peddling conviction of Bob McDonnell, a former governor of Virginia. He and his wife had accepted lavish gifts from a vitamin-supplement manufacturer, and asked the state health authority to consider recommending its products. But because no explicit bribe was offered in exchange for an official act, the court ruled unanimously that a guilty verdict could criminalise the normal conduct of democratic politics. Prosecutors say this standard has made it almost impossible to convict American politicians of corruption.The first hearing, on 8 th February, was adjourned due to a medical emergency shortly after it began. Burgis draws useful parallels between Putin’s kleptocracy and Hitler’s Germany, each home to both a “normative state” that generally respects its own laws and a “prerogative state” that violates most of them. The barrister continued in her written arguments: “It may be accepted that killing a person, like every other action, cannot physically be carried out by a corporation; it must be carried out by individuals. Charts Nigel Wilkins brave attempts to uncover the wealth management practises at Swiss Bank BSI. He died before this book was written. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?

A libel claim brought by a Kazakh mining giant over a FT journalist Tom Burgis’ book about “dirty money” has been dismissed by a High Court judge. The Petros, they have a mechanism for setting the price they charge for the oil they steal from the countries they have invaded from within: they call it OPEC.' A leading media lawyer has said the UK must pass so-called anti-SLAPP legislation after a libel claim against a Financial Times journalist over his book about ‘dirty money’ collapsed today. By far the stand out feature of this book is how it develops near novelistic characters out of the panoply of individuals it chronicles, from the tragic Nigel who blew the whistle on a crooked Swiss bank but whose warnings were ignored by UK regulators, to Semyon Mogilevich - the Brainy Don - key moneyman in Russia, to the terrifying Victor Hanna - a man without a past who orchestrated dodgy dealings in Africa on behalf of Central Asian billionaires.During the 2019 general election campaign, Johnson refused to publish a parliamentary report on Russian interference in British politics. The day after he won, he swung by a London party thrown by a billionaire veteran of the KGB's foreign intelligence arm.'