Delta Asia denies involvement in money laundering

BEIJING, March 27 (Itar-Tass) - Banco Delta Asia in Macao (Aomen) where North Korea's money worth 25 million US dollars are deposited has denied involvement in money laundering, according to a press release of the bank owner Stanley Au circulated here on Tuesday.

Thorough examinations conducted by auditors and investigators have not yielded any proof that not a single holder of accounts in Delta Asia had in that or other way participated in or had been involved in illegal transactions, it is stressed in the document. It also points out that Delta Asia and its daughter companies have resolutely denied such accusations.

The press release has become the first official reaction of the bank to a ban of the US Treasury Department on American banks’ deals with Delta Asia.

In 2005, Washington labelled Delta Asia as the main money laundering instrument accusing it of spreading counterfeited dollars allegedly made in North Korea, legalisation of money from drug sale and other crimes. The American Treasury Department then demanded that the Macao authorities should freeze accounts of North Korean firms, however, later made concessions in order to attain progress at the six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula denuclearisation and unblocked the accounts.

However, Pyongyang has encountered a problem with getting the money, because other banks have been refusing to receive on their accounts the supposedly “dirty” money, unwilling to tarnish their reputation and fearing to be put on the “blacklist” of the US Treasury Department.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=11375286&PageNum=0