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Former presidential candidate calls for investigating money laundering accusations against CredexBank

Belarus’ financial authorities should probe the transactions of CredexBank (Credex), which is suspected by the US Treasury Department of money laundering, while the Prosecutor General's Office should institute criminal proceedings, prominent economist Yaraslaw Ramanchuk told BelaPAN.

It is unlikely that the US Treasury Department would accuse a small bank like Credex of laundering $1 billion and playing an important role in global money laundering operations if it did not have serious evidence to substantiate its allegations, said Mr. Ramanchuk, who ran for president in the 2010 election.

They cast a shadow over the performance of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) as a supervisory agency, he said. The NBB has either failed to notice the bank’s suspicious activity or deliberately kept silent, he said.

The scandal may lead to tighter international supervision over Belarusian banks, delay payments and make it more difficult for Belarus to obtain foreign loans, Mr. Ramanchuk predicted. In particular, the International Monetary Fund may suspend any loan talks with Belarus until Credex is cleared of the money laundering accusations, he warned.

The scandal may also damage the reputation of Russian banks that have invested in the Belarusian banking sector, which may, in its turn, affect Belarus' relations with Russia, Mr. Ramanchuk 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.”