Media Information
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Released: 2 June,2004
Media Release: From The Anti Money Laundering Network For release 2 June 2004 00.00 GMT A new world record: the most copied work about money laundering.If there was a Guinness World Record for the most copied article on money laundering, it's almost certain that "Think Again: Money Laundering," written by counter-money laundering expert Nigel Morris-Cotterill would hold that record. Nigel Morris-Cotterill, widely recognised as one of the world's leading counter-money laundering experts, is used to having his work plagiarised. For example in 2002, he discovered that an undergraduate in England had simply copied substantial portions of pages from his company website at www.countermoneylaundering.com. The student had been awarded a higher grade than he would otherwise have been and the senior staff on the course had been especially impressed by his grasp of a particular aspect of the topic. Nigel asked that there be a note placed in the young man's file and in file copies of his thesis and also that he be required to place the note in his own copies. But, Nigel insisted, it would not be fair to take his degree away - an option considered by the university - and blight the young man's future. And a bank sent a person on a training course run by Nigel. The bank obtained the materials and in breach of the copyright notices prominently displayed and repeated orally, the bank used the course materials to form a slide show presentation which they distributed all over the bank on CD. Perhaps worse, because it means that the user is building his own reputation at the expense of Nigel's, Nigel often finds extracts from his publicly available conference papers and articles cropping up in conference papers presented by others. But the plagiarism of the Think Again article is on another scale entirely. The article was published by Foreign Policy magazine, a very influential publication originating in the USA but highly regarded all over the world, in its May / June 2001 issue. The article was credited to Nigel in his role as editor of World Money Laundering Report rather than his "real life" of counter-money laundering strategist who heads The Anti Money Laundering Network. Foreign Policy licences its content to many media outlets all over the world and the article has been translated into about a dozen languages. This is not plagiarism - it is legal and proper use of the article and was provided for under the agreement by which the article was commissioned. But the widespread exposure of the article has brought it to the attention of many who wish to claim Nigel's work as their own. For example, a person in South East Asia was engaged by a very large international accountancy firm to make the firm a market leader in money laundering related issues. One of his courses of action was to get a book published. In order to learn about money laundering, he did a great deal of reading on the internet and came across the Nigel's work including the Think Again article. He submitted a synopsis of his proposed book to a publisher who sent it for peer review. It was discovered that a significant part (about 30%) of his synopsis was the Think Again article that had simply been copied from the internet and, apart from the removal of a few words and the insertion of a few, the article had been included verbatim, including, even, its section headings. The author eventually found a minor publisher prepared to take on the project. Just as the book was being sent to the publisher in final proof form, the author realised that he needed permission for the extract which had been reproduced from the synopsis almost unaltered. Foreign Policy set its terms: the article should be set out in full, with its source and authorship made plain, and any comments made after it. Foreign Policy felt that a short credit in the footnote would not make clear the full extent of the work that was copied and that such extensive copying should not be subject to alteration as it would affect the credibility of the original piece. The author of the book was not prepared to accept these terms but so far the manner in which he dealt with this setback is not known as the book has not yet appeared. Also, examination of outlines of training courses run by some very well known names in the field of e-learning and even face to face training show clear influences from the article. There is selective use of short quotes from the article that appear in a wide range of government documents from the USA to Australia, and this is not only permitted, it is welcomed. Nor is any complaint made about the fact that it is cited in United Nations conferences and documents - again, this is welcome. It is equally welcome that the article is on reading lists for a wide range of courses, from law through economics to politics, and quoted in papers published at leading universities all over the world including Harvard. The article is referred by international organisations such as the International Tax and Investment Organisation and is often quoted (with appropriate credit) in other articles and papers. But perhaps a more invidious use occurred on 28th May 2004 when the article was three years old. An article in a newspaper, The Daily Star, in Bangladesh was an almost exact reprint of the Think Again article. Credited to "Ahmed Ali" who is described as "a banker," the article contains minor alterations, some of which adversely affect the sense of the original. Some sections of the original have been omitted - it was a long article - and a "localising" last section has been added. That last section is critical of Bangladeshi AML efforts - yet the original article was carefully written so as to avoid criticism of any particular country. The Daily Star article therefore, in Nigel's opinion, adversely affects the credibility and the careful even-handedness of the original and may even damage his reputation in relation to the securing of government work. Ahmed Ali has carefully removed even the references to third party work that Nigel included in the original article - for example that of the historian Stirling Seagrave. Nigel's special skills of joining up the dots to make apparently unrelated information come alive for those who read his work is one reason that the Think Again article is so widely read and plagiarised. But it is also Nigel's foresight and deep understanding of the topic that makes a subject that many see as boring or technical to be compelling. The Think Again article will continue to be plagiarised although most copies of it, in English, have now been removed from the Internet - or rather have been moved to paid-for archives. But there is no doubt that it is one of the most influential articles on money laundering ever written and that its influence will continue to be felt for many years. Even though it may have the name of a plagiarist on it. And this has a long term consequence for the original writer:" As the copies of my work appear on websites under the names of plagiarists, and the original disappears because of space restrictions or changes in policy by the original publishers and its licensees, the plagiarists will become regarded as the originator of the work. They will become quoted and I will not," said Morris-Cotterill. "And people will be misled into thinking that those who have stolen my work are experts," he warned. Notes to editors - The Daily Star, Bangladesh, article credited to Ahmed Ali is at http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/05/29/d405291502101.htm - The original article is fast disappearing from the internet. There is a (legitimate) copy at http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/corrupt/2001/05morris.htm - the Think Again article incorporated elements (slightly re-worded) of the website of Silkscreen Consulting at www.countermoneylaundering.com - Nigel Morris-Cotterill wrote to The Editor of The Daily Star, Bangladesh, and its webmaster on 29th May 2004 informing him of the plagiarism and requiring remedial action. As of today, 31 May, no reply as been received. - Nigel Morris-Cotterill heads The Anti Money Laundering Network, a privately held group of companies - Silkscreen Consulting - specialising in counter-money laundering strategies, training for the boards of public companies and financial institutions, regulators and law makers. See www.countermoneylaundering.com - Click To Learn More - a compliance driven e-learning programme running on a platform especially designed for deployment in low bandwidth and low point-of-delivery tech so making it the only product effective in developing countries and rural areas of many countries such as the UK where dial-up remains the norm. www.clicktolearnmore.com / www.quicktolearnmore.com - Risk Values - the world's only psychological profiling tool to identify potential money launderers, fraudsters and those who may use an account to fund terrorism. www.riskvalues.com - Vortex Centrum - publishers of World Money Laundering Report and World Money Laundering Report: Online the only truly international information service for counter-money laundering professionals. www.vortexcentrum.com - The Group's Malaysian subsidiary AML Net Sdn Bhd has been awarded MSC Status by the Malaysian government to develop innovative technologies to assist in countering money laundering and terrorist financing. - Nigel Morris-Cotterill works on consultancy assignments all over the world. Since 2002, he has been based in Malaysia. He frequently works on an informal basis with government departments in a number of countries especially with regard to the planning of counter-money laundering law and regulation for the financial sector. - Nigel has invented all the concepts driven by The Anti Money Laundering Network. He is innovative and very forward thinking. He often identifies issues several years ahead of the risk coming to general knowledge. Many of his ideas have been dismissed by those who do not fully grasp the subject - only for those ideas to come about as much as ten years after he first drew attention to them. - Nigel delivers director and compliance officer level training courses for a wide range of industries, either in house or in general session. His next courses in Kuala Lumpur are for the Securities Industry in June 2004, the Insurance Industry in July 2004 (both booking via www.financialcrimeforum.com or +6 03 2142 7588) and for public companies in August 2004 (www.rayma.com). At a recent course for the securities industry 100% of participants said they would recommend the course to a colleague. Even for general conference papers, often in conferences where money laundering is not a central topic and is new to the delegates, Nigel's delegate satisfaction rating always averages more than 80%. - Nigel's courses are always exceptional value for money: the courses above cost between RM2200 and RM2750 for two days with deep discounts for second and subsequent attendees. And in addition, because Nigel lives in KL, follow up consulting is easy and cost effective. Yet others are charging as much as RM5000 for two days for a presenter to ride into town to present a seminar - and then the presenter flies out again. Contact: Alicia Eng The Anti Money Laundering Network +6 03 2142 7588 / +44 207 107 9512 press@antimoneylaundering.net www.antimoneylaundering.net ----- End Release ---- The Anti Money Laundering Network: Press Index The Anti Money Laundering Network: Home
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