Shell games

IF YOU open an account at a reputable bank these days, the teller will demand various pieces of identification and perhaps, if you look unusual, file a “suspicious transaction report” to the authorities. For a money-launderer or a sophisticated terrorist organisation, on the other hand, there are plenty of ways to slip through the barriers put in place by financial institutions since September 11th last year. Rather than go into a bank as an individual, a criminal can enter the system behind a corporate mask. All he needs to do is set up a company in a place that does not require the owner's identity to be revealed; with it, he can, in effect, open an anonymous account.