A letter rogatory from Kenya and the February 24th return of Mayan artifacts to Guatemala.

  1. Following a money trail through multiple jurisdictions may necessitate letters rogatory.  Such a letter rogatory was filed October 12, 2011 in In Re: Request from Kenya, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Index No. 11-mc-00213.  The Delaware Federal Court ultimately issued this Kenyan letter rogatory on behalf of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, which has since been replaced by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.  As the Kenyan letter rogatory reveals, a public corruption investigation was underway in connection with the Postapay electronic funds transfer service offerred by Kenya’s postal system.
  2. The January 4, 2011 and / or  July 13, 2011 Asset Search News Roundups explain that common vehicles for concealing assets include: portable valuable commodities, checks and wire transfers, trade-based money laundering and bulk-cash smuggling.  Smuggled cultural artifacts can too be a tool for secretly transferring assets, although less frequently and in smaller amounts.  Eight Mayan artifacts seemingly smuggled into the United States, were returned to Guatemala at a February 24th repatriation ceremony.  The ceremony is described by a press release and here is one of the now-returned artifacts–

 

Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Copyright 2012 Fred L. Abrams