The next question that arises is that of, if the Financial Instruments were real and genuine and the acts of Watanabe and Yamaguchi were real, genuine, and lawful, for what legitimate reason were the Financial Instruments concealed in a “Secret” compartment of the briefcase belonging to Yamaguchi.
Knowing the Financial Instruments were real, what other reasons could there be for concealing these Financial Instruments in a “Secret” compartment of Yamaguchi’s briefcase. The one reason possible is that Yamaguchi and Watanabe were in unlawful possession of same as neither they, nor the “Dragon Family” were the legal owners of these Financial Instruments. Another reason is that under European Law and Italian Law, it is illegal to carry Financial Instruments, or copies thereof, through or across the borders of countries unless you are an authorised Bank Courier, or a Bonded Courier. Other than that, any other person or party would be committing a serious criminal offence under European Law. This is something so simple that even professional criminals will be fully aware of.
Such carrying of Financial Instruments should always be undertaken by legally registered Bonded Couriers, Bank Couriers, or, persons carrying the appropriate Diplomatic clearances and appointed by their “Sovereign” Nations / Entities to undertake such activities. That way, everything can be checked as it would be officially recorded within the administrative records of the party involved, whether Courier, Bank or Sovereign Nation / Entity.
Officially such “carrying” of Financial Instruments is frowned upon because it is wide open to fraudulent activities and should not happen at all, or if it does, on very, very rare occasions. There is a perfectly good system by SWIFT, EUROCLEAR, DTC, etc that allows for the electronic transmission on a Bank to Bank basis of such Financial Instruments with full Bank Responsibility, whereby such transmissions are formally and officially recorded and registered. Any normal person carrying such Financial Instruments in the manner, or similar, to that of Yamaguchi and Watanabe, must immediately be considered as suspect on the basis that such activities are most likely part of a fraudulent operation. On that basis it must be highly reasonable to assume that what Yamaguchi and Watanabe were doing was unlawful, and in contravention of several laws. If all what Yamaguchi and Watanabe have stated is true and genuine, then why did they attempt to undertake an operation that automatically would be considered against the law and of a criminal nature. Why did they not use the SWIFT system, or a Bank Courier or Bonded Courier to transmit / transfer the Certificates / Bonds in their possession. The answer is that they couldn’t because they were not registered banks and not listed as members of such financial clearance system. What Yamaguchi and Watanabe were doing was illegal and they knew it was illegal, hence why the Certificates / Bonds were hidden in a false compartment of Yamaguchi’s briefcase, and why everything Yamaguchi and Watanabe have stated is completely false and used as a cover story in an effort to give them credibility. It just didn’t work and they were probably the biggest fools on the planet for even attempting it.
Carrying of Financial Instruments, in a matter undertaken by Watanabe and Yamaguchi, does invoke the highest of suspicions towards fraudulent activities, whereupon the discovery of same a full investigation would usually be undertaken by the Law Enforcement Agencies, no matter where in the world they are. No official records or registration within the administrative records of the applicable authority responsible would, without doubt, direct the focus of attention to an attempted Fraud.
Notice how Watanabe and Yamaguchi bring in a little name dropping, that being the “Federal Reserve Bank of New York”, obviously, to add credibility to their dubious activities. Unfortunately for both Watanabe, and Yamaguchi, neither appeared to realise that the Law Enforcement Agencies do have direct access to the Security Departments of all Central Banks and Commercial Banks to check such statements, and whether genuine or otherwise, they would deny any connection, knowledge, or otherwise.
The Financial Crime Police of any country are not that naïve to accept such an explanation / linkage, without checking, which is quite a simple task if undertaken by an authorised party or person. The Italian Financial Crime Police are no exception and did immediately undertake a request for verification of the statement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The US Treasury and the US Intelligence Service, whereby, and as extracted from the Police and Court records the following response statement was made:
After further in-depth examination of the involved persons and the seized documents (note n. 148-814-2269-S of October 2, 2009) the US Secret Service, finally shares the following information:
US Treasury Department as well as Federal Reserve Bank do rule out that YAMAGUCHI and WATANABE are (or have been) reliable employees or co-workers, and more precisely, that neither the Federal Reserve Bank nor the Federal Reserve System do make use of dismissed agents or reliable staff in order to act in their name.
SANTI Alessandro, HORST Hans, ABDURRAHIM Dona and the DRAGON FAMILY are not known to the US Secret Service’s archives.
Bonds and financial documentation similar to those seized have been used in the past for international fraud, especially the “Advance Fee Fraud”, well known on an international basis.
That “Collective” statement from the US Intelligence Service, the US Treasury, and the US Federal Reserve, totally destroys Watanabe and Yamaguchi’s original statement to the Border and Financial Crime Police at Chiasso, Switzerland.
There is one very important and distinguishing phrase within that statement. Very carefully and precisely written to indicate something else which the US Intelligence Agency knew about but were not prepared to actually state, leaving it to the Italian Police Authorities to undertake their own investigation on the matter.
The phrase is, quote “neither the Federal Reserve Bank nor the Federal Reserve System do make use of dismissed agents”, with the focus being on the word “dismissed”.
“Dismissed Agents”, an interesting phrase, and a highly pertinent and relevant point, that holds a primary position in the evidence against Watanabe and Yamaguchi. In fact the Italian Police never picked up on this point but Alessandro Santi’s lawyers did and commenced making investigations in Japan through their associate lawyers.
Why were these words used in a “Collective” statement? There doesn’t appear to be a need if what Yamaguchi states was genuine. This “Collective” statement was clearly trying to indicate something which they did not want to expand on for one reason or another.
Extracted from a legal Affidavit submitted as evidence in the case against Watanabe, Yamaguchi, and Alessandro Santi, is the following:
16.2 Based upon the above, the records show that Mr Akihiko Yamaguchi was dismissed from his position with the Ministry of Finance and prosecuted for Fraud. The records indicate that this conviction was in 1984 / 1985 although there is no actual date or month attributed to same.
Mr Akihiko Yamaguchi was convicted of Fraud and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released from prison after 12 years, which based upon the above conviction date would have been sometime during 1996 / 1997.
The above information was apparently forwarded to the Italian Financial Crime Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for inclusion in their case for the prosecution.
Also note the content of the second paragraph of the “Collective” statement, being quote “SANTI Alessandro, HORST Hans, ABDURRAHIM Dona and the DRAGON FAMILY are not known to the US Secret Service’s archives.”
So what does this actually mean in common language?
It means that the persons or parties named are not on any record or register, positive or negative, with the Federal Reserve, US Treasury or the US Intelligence Agency. That statement creates yet another questionable situation, because, and we must not forget this fact, Yamaguchi and Watanabe in their joint statement to the Police stated the following, quote “as the Federal Reserve Bank was the ultimate authority over these Financial Instruments”.
As these are “Special” Financial Instruments, which according to Yamaguchi and Watanabe the Federal Reserve had ultimate authority over, there would certainly have been a “Highly Confidential” record inside the Federal Reserve. In fact there is a “Special Department” inside the Federal Reserve which few people know about, that holds a complete register of all persons or parties legally authorised to handle such Financial Instruments, a small limited list in which there are very few names, yet the Federal Reserve deny all the parties involved and the authenticity of these Financial Instruments. It is therefore reasonably fair, and just to say that Yamaguchi, Watanabe, Alessandro Santi, Hans Horst, Dona Abdurrahim (the latter two names derive from the Mobile Phones of Yamaguchi and Watanabe), and even the Dragon Family are not on that small limited list and as such are not authorised to be handling, or in possession, of these Financial Instruments.
That in itself is a very interesting statement. Let’s forget about the three individual names and focus entirely on the reference to the “Dragon Family”.