The Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government
Saturday appointed two delegates to participate in the operation of
Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a bank accused by the US government of
money-laundering.
A government press release said owing to "the abnormal
circumstances" in relation to the withdrawal of customer deposits
of BDA, the MSAR government made the assignment "to safeguard the
financial stability" of the region.
Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and
Financial Intelligence (TFI), Thursday said in his report published
on the web-page of the Department of Treasury that BDA has aided
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in series of
money-laundering cases.
The US official, in his report, also slammed the MSAR for its
laxness in curbing of money laundering.
The BDA, established in Macao in 1935, currently operates eight
branches and four offices in the MSAR and Delta Asia Financial
Group, BDA's parent company, has subsidiaries and offices in Hong
Kong, Tokyo and the Chinese city of Zhuhai.
The US official's assumption has produced a shaky situation for
the bank, as the total withdrawal has reached 300 million patacas
(US$37.5 million) till late Saturday, donning 10 percent of its
deposit.
(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2005)