CIS

Home page

CIS

Belarus says U.S. charges of money-laundering groundless

24 May 2012 04:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Belarus Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the U.S. accusations of money-laundering by the Belarusian Credexbank is groundless, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Belarus is always very strict to its international obligations in the field of combating terrorism and money-laundering, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Savinykh said.

The official stressed that Belarus has established a sufficiently effective system of financial control.

Credexbank also on Wednesday denied accusations by the U.S. Treasury that it is engaged in money laundering for shell corporations.

The bank said it’s taking steps to clarify and resolve the situation and is considering the possibility of sending a written request to the U.S. Treasury with a proposal for cooperation on the issue of providing all the necessary information.

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday issued a report designating Credexbank "a primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act," because "it has reason to believe that Credexbank has engaged in high volumes of transactions that are indicative of money laundering on behalf of shell corporations."

According to the report, in a two-month period in 2010, the relatively small Credexbank, which ranks 22nd by assets among 32 Belarusian banks, transferred 1 billion U.S. dollars to hundreds of shell corporations in multiple jurisdictions.