 | Thanks, Bill Keller. Enjoy your vacation, you've certainly earned it. |
Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx has responded with surprise to revelations late last week that the US government was able to examine international financial transactions over several years as part of its so-called war on terror. The Socialist PS| a Socialist, eh? yeah I was shocked too |
minister said she was "completely unaware" of the practice. Her ministry said on Saturday that the security service VS-SE and the federal police money laundering unit (CFI in Dutch) will now investigate the matter. The Interior Ministry "officially denied" that the minister was aware of the US practices, first revealed by fishwrap 'New York Times' newspaper 'De Standaard'. "The minister was, just as the prime minister, completely unaware. She only heard it on Friday, via the media," Onkelinx' spokesman said. Consequently, Onkelinx requested a complete report about the matter, both from the VS-SE and the CFI. The federal police unit was also was also asked to draw up a legal analysis of the situation.
Financial institutes in Belgium are obligated by law to report suspicious transactions to the CFI in an effort to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) confirmed on Saturday it was aware of the fact that US authorities could examine transactions via Swift. The NBB released an official statement after media reports broke on Friday. But an NBB spokesman refused to confirm when the reserve bank was informed about Swift's actions, revealing only that it was informed in an informal manner via its contacts with the firm. The NBB said further it saw no ethical problems in Swift's actions. Despite the fact Swift had to comply with various standards to ensure a smooth working of the financial sector, the NBB also said America's espionage tactics did not place the sector's operations at threat.| I should note here that this is one politician making faces and rolling her eyes here; the actual banking/financial industry types don't seem too upset. Of course, they need to deal with the regulatory anaconda that *is* the EU body politic, so they may end up making faces too... |
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