Regime defends Credexbank from US Treasury

The National Bank of Belarus says it found no facts that could confirm Credexbank's involvement in money laundering.

The National Bank of Belarus carried out an unscheduled audit of Credexbank in connection with the facts given in a statement by the US Treasury Department of May 22, 2012.

“The results of the audit reveal all  mentioned in the statement of the US Treasury Department financial operations of non-resident clients executed by Credexbank in 2008-2010 were carried out via Russian and Western European banks with giving notice to financial monitoring bodies in full compliance with the active legislation.

Other allegations of the US Treasury Department accusing Credexbank of possible involvement in 'non-transparent' financial operations were not confirmed,” the press release of the National Bank says.

The National Bank states Credexbank's rules and internal control procedures to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism mainlycomply both with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and the FATF standards ( an intergovernmental organization with the purpose to develop policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing).

However, to minimize the risks of appearing information in future about Belarusian banks that can cause significant damage to their business reputation, the National Bank of Belarus intends to initiate preparing a regulatory legal act giving Belarusian banks the right to break relations with suspicious customers.

As charter97.org reported earlier, the US Treasury Department said in May Belarusian Credexbank was playing a role of a key money laundering hub on a worldwide scale.

The report expressed a concern about money laundering by the bank and proposed to prohibit transactions with it.

The US Department of the Treasury states that from January till March 2010 the Belarusian bank delivered $ 1bln in payments to dummy companies registered in offshore financial centers. It is also pointed out that Credexbank has 66 correspondent accounts, 20 of which are USD accounts, while the major Belarusian bank has only 18 correspondent accounts, according to the information of the US Department of Treasury.

The US Department of Treasury suggests conducting surveillance of Credexbank, and prohibiting American companies and banks to get involved in any transactions with it, until all suspicions against the bank are eliminated. This decision of the US powers is based on Sector 311 of the USA Patriot Act.