Montserrat gov't demands explanation of accused bank
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from November 2000.
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The move followed Canadian Press reports that two Canadian fugitives might have used the institution to launder about CDN$100 million believed to be stolen from United States and Canadian businesses. "Montserrat itself has money-laundering legislation and, therefore, the bank has been written to immediately for them to give an explanation within a set time about these allegations," said John Lawrence, Inspector of Financial Institutions in Montserrat and other British Dependencies in the Caribbean.
He told CANA in a telephone interview that if 10 days pass and St Georges Bank and Trust Company Limited, the entity linked by the Canadian Press to the scam, does not reply the Montserrat government will decide on what should be the next course of action.
Lawrence said that on his advice the bank operating out of Miami and Panama had been written to directly and the letter copied to Kharl Markham, its Montserratian representative. sentative, after what he termed an "alleged money laundering operation" as reported in Wednesday's edition of Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper.
Markham could not be contacted and Montserrat's Financial Secretary declined to comment on any issue. The St George's Bank and Trust Company is registered in Montserrat but does not do business there.
