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Some of the world’s largest banks are reportedly allowing criminals and scammers to move dirty money around the world, according to leaked bank documents seen by BBC Panorama.
More than 2,000 sensitive bank documents detailing transactions worth more than two trillion US dollars were analyzed after being leaked to BuzzFeed News and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which distributed them to 108 news organizations, the BBC said. Panorama.
They allegedly show that bank officials allowed scammers to transfer money between different accounts after learning that the proceeds came from multi-million dollar fraud or crime.
The files are also reported to show how Russian oligarchs use banks to avoid sanctions and get their money to the West.
The cache of files, known as FinCEN (from the US Financial Crime Investigation Network), are mostly files that banks sent to US authorities between 2000 and 2017, raising concerns on suspicious activity on its clients’ accounts, Panorama said.
The program called the documents “some of the best kept secrets in the international banking system.”
The UK’s anti-corruption group Transparency International said suspicious activity reports (SARs) “repeatedly cite weak defenses against money laundering in the UK financial sector as a major problem.”
He added: “The leak shows how UK banks do not continually address suspicious activity and instead offer their services to those who have money to hide.
“Transparency International UK’s investigation has previously identified 86 UK banks and financial institutions that have unknowingly or otherwise helped corrupt individuals acquire assets and move shady wealth.”
Chief Executive Daniel Bruce said: “These revelations are a damning indictment of the system that supposedly prevents the UK and other financial centers from becoming dirty money havens.
“The Government should respond quickly to this important investigation to show that the UK is serious about fighting dirty money.
“We know that solutions exist; for example, advancing the reform of corporate responsibility laws to hold banks accountable for money laundering failures and accelerating legislation to reform UK company law.
“As it stands, it is still too easy for kleptocrats and criminals to launder their illicit loot using the veneer of UK companies and institutions.”
Alex Cobham, CEO of the Tax Justice Network, said: “As will be revealed in the next few days, many of the world’s leading financial institutions have comprehensively failed to meet their own responsibilities, in the name of making a profit, however dirty. be.
“Swift and robust action is needed, including possible criminal charges, or banks will simply continue to consider being caught and fined as a mere business cost.”
Panorama: Banking Secrets of the Rich and Powerful airs at 7pm on BBC One on Monday.
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