Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/22
By: You Kai-hsiang, Tien Yu-pin, Tsai Yi-chu and Y.F. Low
Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Prosecutors will investigate Mega International Commercial Bank after it was fined US$180 million for violating anti-money laundering laws in the United States, the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office said Monday.
The case will be handled by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, which will look into whether the bank violated Taiwan’s Money Laundering Control Act, Banking Act and Financial Holding Company Act, according to Chen Chuan-tzung, chief secretary of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office.
New York State’s Department of Financial Service (DFS) announced on Aug. 19 that it had fined Mega Bank US$180 million, after identifying “a number of suspicious transactions” between the bank’s New York and Panama branches.
The DFS said it also discovered that “a substantial number” of the bank’s customer entities were formed with the assistance of the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama, one of the law firms at the center of the formation of shell company activity. [FULL STORY]
