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National Bank to audit Credex after US Treasury`s report

The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) announced Wednesday its intention to conduct an audit of CredexBank (Credex) that is suspected by the US Treasury Department of money laundering.

The unscheduled audit will be carried out in connection with Treasury’s report, said the NBB.

At the same time, the NBB said that “an efficient system of measures to prevent and detect financial transactions involving the laundering of illegally obtained money and terrorism financing has been created in the Republic of Belarus.”

The system not only provides for tight requirements for internal controls that should be maintained by financial institutions but also spells out clear rules on how the National Bank should act to prevent and detect the illegal transactions, it said.

On May 22, the US Treasury Department said that it had identified Credex as “a financial institution of primary money-laundering concern.”

“Treasury took this action because it has reason to believe that Credex has engaged in high volumes of transactions that are indicative of money laundering on behalf of shell corporations, and has a history of ownership by shell corporations whose own lack of transparency contributes to considerable uncertainty surrounding Credex’s true beneficial ownership,” said the Department’s press office. “For example, in a two-month period in 2010, information made available to the USG [the US government] shows that Credex transferred more than $1 billion to hundreds of shell corporations in multiple jurisdictions—a substantial amount of wire activity for a bank of Credex’s size.”

Since its founding in September 2001, Credex’s ownership has passed from one shell corporation to another, said Treasury`s press office. Its current owner, Vicpart Holding SA, based in Fribourg, Switzerland, has no physical presence and shares the same address as more than 200 other companies, it said. “Vicpart bears the hallmark of a classic `shelf company,` demonstrated by the fact that it remained dormant for several years after its creation and became active only months prior to acquiring Credex in 2009.” //BelaPAN