Julian Crowley
Nauru is a tiny Pacific island, 1,200 miles off the coast of New Guinea. It may well be one of the most obscure places on earth. However, this little-known landmass was also at the center of some of the highest profile money laundering activity of recent years. In the late 1990s, Russian criminal gangs laundered around $70 billion through “shell banks” registered on Nauru. Shell banks exist only “on paper” (they don’t have a physical presence in any country), and Nauru allowed its banks to operate without recording the identities of its customers or the trail of deposited money in its accounts. All of which made them extremely popular with money launderers. Since 2001, Nauru has taken steps to clean up its act and has accepted financial aid from Australia.
