Republic Bank Limited has denied a report published in the Sunday Guardian which stated the bank had raised "red flags" to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) about the suspicious transactions of a senior government official.A release from the bank yesterday described the April 14 article as "false and untrue" and "that the accounts described in the article are not held at Republic Bank Limited."The release added that "all other information provided in the report regarding alleged actions of Republic Bank is false."
Prior to the article being published, Sunday Guardian sent four questions to Republic Bank on the matter in an attempt to get confirmation of the information. One of the questions asked was: "Did Republic Bank notify the FIU on the suspicious transactions/payments made by (senior official's name called)?"
In an e-mail response to Sunday Guardian, the bank said: "Further to your enquiries, the bank is guided by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2009 in identifying and reporting transactions which might be considered suspicious, based on descriptions provided by Section 55 of the Act. "We are unable to reveal actual bank procedures however, and as you would imagine we cannot comment on any transactions which might or might not have occurred."
The bank's full statement
Republic Bank wishes to advise that the information referring to the bank and reported as fact in an article, headlined "Bank raises red flag with FIU", published in the Sunday Guardian of April 14, 2013, is false and untrue, and that the accounts described in the article are not held at Republic Bank Limited. Additionally and as a consequence, all other information provided in the report regarding alleged actions of Republic Bank is false.
Republic Bank treats its obligations to co-operate with the FIU and other authorities to combat money laundering very seriously and investigations and filing of suspicious activity reports are conducted with the highest level of secrecy. The bank does not usually comment on these matters when questioned by the media.
However, on this occasion, given the high degree of fictitious information in the report, and the fact that the bank's good reputation has been severely impacted, we are obliged to assure the public and the authorities that this information did not emanate from Republic Bank and matters referred to in the article do not relate to Republic Bank Limited.