Billions in shady money moved through Singapore banks: report



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Billions of dollars in suspicious transactions moved through Singapore between 2007 and 2017, according to leaked data from a US financial crime agency and reported by BuzzFeed.

Nearly $ 3 billion was transferred to Singapore banks and another $ 1.5 billion was withdrawn, according to data from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which relies heavily on reports of suspicious activity from the company. banking industry. In total, it shows that more than $ 2 trillion was moved worldwide through financial institutions, including major banks, according to Buzzfeed reporters who reviewed the documents together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The data “reveals for the first time how Western banking giants move trillions of dollars in shady transactions, enriching themselves and their shareholders while facilitating the work of terrorists, kleptocrats and drug lords.” Informed Buzzfeed.

A fraction of those transactions, just over $ 35 billion, were allocated to a interactive map.

Figures for Singapore were based on a sample of 1,781 transactions that the consortium found to have “sufficient details on originating and beneficiary banks.”

Singapore's portion of FinCEN data collected by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.  Chart: ICIJ
Singapore’s portion of FinCEN data collected by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Chart: ICIJ

The named banks included CIMB, which appeared in at least 294 transactions, and DBS, which appeared in at least 461 transactions. Singaporean banks OCBC and UOB were also on the list. None have responded to Cocos Singaporerequests for comments.

According to the data, the money moved between Singapore, the United States and 46 other countries. On February 5, 2014, for example, US $ 40 million was transferred from Swiss bank BSI to DBS Bank Ltd. On December 4, 2015, approximately US $ 13 million was transferred from OCBC to Credit Suisse. From March to April 2016, more than US $ 12 million was transferred from DBS to UOB through five transactions.

The 22,000-page US government documents were released amid investigations into issues including the 2016 presidential election. Buzzfeed found they included more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports in their report, which it said links to the The world’s largest financial institutions with international terrorism, human trafficking, and drug cartels.

He said documents show FinCEN is aware of the level of crime enabled by the global banking system, but does nothing to control it.

Activity reports submitted to the agency come from financial institutions when they suspect that a transaction may be linked to money laundering or other illegal activities. He says the reports may support further investigation, but they do not serve as evidence of a crime.

The agency, which in recent years has fined the Trump Organization millions of dollars for money laundering violations, he said earlier this month that the leak amounted to a crime and a threat to the national security of the United States.

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