Business

Bulgarian ‘Crypto Queen’ added to US most-wanted list

Published

2 months ago

03/07/2022

MNN

Ruja Ignatova was behind one of the most notorious scams in the frequently treacherous world of crypto currencies.

A Bulgarian woman dubbed the “Crypto Queen” after she raised billions of dollars in a fraudulent virtual currency scheme has been placed on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday put up a $100,000 reward for Ruja Ignatova, who disappeared in Greece in October 2017 around the time US authorities filed a sealed indictment and warrant for her arrest.

The 42-year-old, who is also a German citizen, was behind one of the most notorious scams in the frequently treacherous world of crypto currencies.

In 2014, she launched OneCoin, ostensibly aiming to replace Bitcoin as the world’s leading virtual money.

Tapping a global network to market the coin to friends and family in exchange for their own payouts, she and co-conspirators pulled in at least $3.4 billion and possibly over $4 billion, according to court documents.

Ruja Ignatova is the newest addition to the #FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. She's #wanted for allegedly leading a fraud scheme that affected millions of investors worldwide. We're offering a reward of up to $100,000 for info leading to her arrest. https://t.co/5mk0NccE7x pic.twitter.com/xKoj0RN6BZ

— FBI (@FBI) June 30, 2022

Classic Ponzi scheme

Officials said that OneCoin was not backed by any secured, independent blockchain-type technology as other crypto currencies are.

Instead, they said, it was a classic Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are encouraged to find others and then paid out by receipts from later investors.

“OneCoin claimed to have a private blockchain,” said FBI Special Agent Ronald Shimko in a statement.

“This is in contrast to other virtual currencies, which have a decentralized and public blockchain. In this case, investors were just asked to trust OneCoin,” he said.

Rewards for information

Ignatova disappeared in 2017 as international investigators began to close in on her group.

“Investigators believe Ignatova may have been tipped off that she was under investigation by US and international authorities,” the FBI said Thursday.

“She travelled from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, on October 25, 2017, and has not been seen since.”

On May 11, Europol announced it had added Ignatova to its most-wanted list, and offered a 5,000 euro ($5,200) reward for information on her whereabouts.

But on Thursday she was no longer on the list. It was not clear why or when she came off it, and authorities in Europe and the United States have not shown evidence of whether she is alive or dead.

Source: TRT

Business

China sees net purchase of RMB bonds by overseas institutional investors in July

Published

3 days ago

16/08/2022

MNN

China saw net purchase of its RMB bonds by overseas institutional investors in July after registering net sales for four months in a row.

Foreign institutional investors made a total of 1.0311 trillion yuan (about 152.24 billion U.S. dollars) of spot transactions of RMB bonds, including buying 518.8 billion yuan of bonds and selling 512.3 billion yuan of bonds, registering a net purchase of 6.6 billion yuan, data from the China Foreign Exchange Trade System showed.

Last month also saw an increase of eight new overseas institutional investors engaging in trade in China’s bond market. By the end of July, the Chinese bond market had 1,051 overseas institutional investors in total.

Analysts attributed the growing interest in RMB bonds to the country’s continuous economic recovery and a generally stable foreign exchange rate.

Official data released on Monday showed that China’s major economic indicators including the index of services production and fixed-asset investment posted year-on-year growths in July.

Business

Gov’t discusses improving digital transformation with Qatar

Published

3 days ago

16/08/2022

MNN

Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology Aminath Shauna has discussed strengthening the bilateral relations with Qatar and supporting national efforts to improve digital transformation. She held the discussions alongside a ministerial delegation from the Maldives in a meeting with key Qatari institutions at the Ooredoo Group Headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

At the invitation of Chairperson of Ooredoo Maldives Fatima Al Kuwari, who facilitated meetings with key Qatari ministries and institutions in Doha, Minister Shauna travelled to Qatar with Minister of Education Dr. Aishath Ali and Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Yumna Maumoon. The ministerial delegation also held meetings with the senior management of the Ooredoo Group while accompanied by the Managing Director of Ooredoo Maldives Khalid Al Hamadi and the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Ooredoo Maldives Hussain Niyaz.

Furthermore, Ooredoo facilitated visits to key relevant institutions including the Qatar Foundation that featured a tour of the Qatar National Library to discuss ways to collaborate and upgrade the Maldives National Library. The delegation also visited the Qatar National Museum and Katara Cultural Village which included tours of art galleries, workshops, exhibition areas, performance arenas, and other cultural museums. Ooredoo stated that its aim with these meetings was to exchange ideas and establish partnerships to further enhance the lives of the people of both Qatar and the Maldives.

Source: psmnews

Business

Customs revenue grows by 31% in July

Published

4 days ago

15/08/2022

MNN

Maldives Customs Service has revealed that the import-export revenue for July has increased compared to the same period last year, resulting in a 31% increase in revenue.

The Maldives recorded an import-export revenue of USD21 million in July this year, which is an increase compared to USD15 million in revenue recorded in July 2021, as per the statistics published by Customs. The statistics also revealed that USD280 million in goods were imported in July, which is an increase of 56% compared to USD176 million in July 2021.

Meanwhile, Oman, India, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Singapore were the biggest contributors to imports. As such, USD52 million in goods were imported from Oman, while USD45 million in goods were imported from India, USD36 million were imported from the UAE, USD32 million were imported from China, and USD22 million were imported from Singapore.

Furthermore, goods worth USD11 million were exported from the Maldives in June 2021 while the figure stood at USD5 million in July this year, which is a decrease of 52%. The Maldives exported the highest number of goods to Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), Mauritius, Bangladesh, and India. Around 27% of the goods were exported to Germany while 23% were exported to the UK. Among the most exported items include various frozen fish products.

The statistics also revealed that 93 vessels had arrived with goods in the Maldives and 99 vessels had departed in July.

Source: psmnews