Large Chilean bank agrees to meet demands by U.S.

[seemslikeadream]

Posted on Thu, Feb. 03, 2005

The second largest bank in Chile will follow a U.S. order to stop doing business with former dictator Augusto Pinochet, as well as correct practices at its Miami branch.

BY KATHLEEN DAY


WASHINGTON - Chile's second-largest bank, Banco de Chile, has agreed to demands by U.S. regulators that it stop doing business with former dictator Augusto Pinochet and his lawyer, stop concealing information from the United States and other governments, and correct practices in its New York and Miami branches that violated federal laws designed to prevent money laundering.

In consent agreements released Wednesday with the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a unit of the Treasury Department, Banco de Chile agreed to fundamental changes in operations at the two branches.

Those changes include running background checks on key employees every 18 months, keeping accurate, thorough records about banking accounts, and certifying it has ended any relationship with Pinochet, 89, or lawyer Oscar Aitken.

''Banco de Chile is 100 percent committed to continue its full cooperation with its supervisors. We are determined to avoid a recurrence of any similar situation,'' the bank's chief executive, Pablo Granifo Lavin, said in a written statement Wednesday.
more
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/international/latin_america/10806354.htm?1c

[Supersedeas]

1. for how long were these violations overlooked???

[seemslikeadream]

2. Probably since BCCI went out of business?

:shrug:

Banco de Chile to close Pinochet accounts

A judge in Spain, who tried to have Pinochet extradited to that country in 1998 to face charges of terrorism and torture, recently issued a new indictment that names Aitken as well as four directors of Riggs.

U.S. prosecutors and Senate investigators accused Riggs managers of using numerous deceptions to conceal Pinochet's ownership of the accounts theres, including setting up dummy offshore companies and altering his name on some of his accounts. This occurred at a time when prosecutors in several countries were trying to freeze Pinochet's assets and bring him to justice for alleged crimes against humanity.
more
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Banco%20de%20Chile%20Pinochet