20th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – Illicit trade, trade-based money laundering, adversarial foreign investments, adversarial threats
To finish off the panel, Dr. Ottolenghi thanks the parliamentarians for the opportunity to address them, as he has enjoyed the privilege since 2015. He begins by wanting to talk about something a little different than the others. Dr. Ottolenghi wants to address the convergence between organized crime and terrorist organizations across the globe. The convergence exists in that terrorist organizations provide the platform to move money that local drug cartels do not. Dr. Ottolenghi notes that though very different motives, their journeys to their said motives align.
First, Dr. Ottolenghi attributes the convergence to globalization. Through shifting drugs and other valuable objects across the globe, criminal organizations and terrorists can greatly assist each other in liquidizing cash into formal means. Cash, drugs, cars, precious metals, and other objects flow though many countries across the globe, and that is where the convergence and its consequences pose a threat to everyone across the globe.
Lasty, Dr. Ottolenghi offers some syndicates to the audience. First, he offers a macro and micro example of the convergence in Paraguay trade data and the Lebanese Hizballah. Then, he claims that the first solution to the convergence is the need for more prosecution and harsher sentencing. Then, governments need more law and action, as any criminals do not fear the white-collar punishment for their crimes. Lastly, governments, especially the USA, need to offer more transparency. If other countries across the globe want to listen to the United States, the United States needs to be more open about its operations.
