Secrecy lifted off 24 local and foreign bank accounts

U.S. urges more alertness for suspicious cases

Banking secrecy was lifted off 24 cases of money laundering and terrorist financing in 2012, including one foreign case, the Special Investigation Commission (SIC) said in its annual report.
The U.S. has repeatedly voiced concern about the country’s banking secrecy laws, especially in light of the sanctions it had imposed, along with the EU, on Syria and Iran. George Mitchell, former U.S. Senator, said the local banking sector “needs to expend more efforts, mainly pertaining to breaches in some cases of suspicious transactions.”

The SIC received a total of 434 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and 156 requests of assistance (ROAs) from local and foreign parties. It handled 284 cases, of which 99 originated from foreign sources. These included 28 cases of forgery, 13 cases of terrorism financing, 15 cases of embezzlement, three of them of public funds, and nine cases of narcotics trading, among others. The SIC investigated 191 cases and consequently took a number of decisions, including lifting banking secrecy, ordering restrictions on certain transactions, and keeping certain bank accounts traceable or freezing others.

On-site compliance examinations included 24 banks, 24 financial institutions, 40 insurance companies, 118 money dealers, nine brokerage firms, and ten money transfer companies.