Japanese
Bank
Mitsubishi
Skirts North
Korea
Sanctions With
Incorrect
Application to
US OCC
By Matthew
Russell Lee, No Notice
Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS,
November 16 – Amid talk of
increased enforcement of
sanctions on North Korea, and
possible imposition of new
sanctions against Myanmar, a
November 13 letter from the New
York State Department of
Financial Services cites Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi for “continuing
compliance failures in Hong
Kong, which has a 'repeat
transaction' program for certain
high risk clients in Chinese
cities bordering North Korea.
The repeat transaction program
results in not more but less
scrutiny of these clients
transactions.” The NYSDFS letter
also notes that BTMU has
processed transaction through
its New York branch for “Burmese
parties” on the OFAC sanctions
list. How did Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi react to the
New York regulator's
investigation of these issues?
It applied on October 30 to
switch to the more lax Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency
and had its application approved
in a mere week, then threw the
state regulators out of its New
York branch on Sixth Avenue. All
this just a few blocks from the
United Nations whose Security
Council, on which Japan has a
seat until the end of the year,
has imposed rounds of sanctions
on North Korea for its nuclear
weapons program, and is set to vote
for a new UN Special Envoy on
Myanmar, or Burma, on November
16. What's going on? Now Inner
City Press can exclusively
report a further outrage, not
included in the NYSDFS letter
nor a Wall Street Journal
article which quoted it. The OCC
gave its approval in a week even
while belatedly listing Bank of
Tokyo - Mitsubishi's filings
under "THESE APPLICATIONS
APPEARED INCORRECTLY IN A PRIOR
WEEKLY BULLETIN." The public, as
is the trend under the OCC, was
cut out. The face savings
compliance agreement, here,
does not cure or address this.
The OCC is lax not only in
sanctions compliance and
absurdly short comment periods
on corporate applications - it
also markets itself to banks as
being “flexible” on other
compliance issues including the
U.S. Community Reinvestment Act.
Recently the OCC announced that
even a rare less than
satisfactory CRA rating would
not bar approval of a bank's
application, click here
for that Inner City Press
coverage. A new Comptroller,
Joseph Otting formerly of
OneWest Bank, is set to be
confirmed by the U.S. Senate
this week, even while the OCC
has refused to answer a pending
Press (and CRC) request under
the Freedom of Information Act.
What will a FOIA request into
the OCC's communications with
Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi
yield? Watch this site. The UN,
which routinely lies about such
matters of corruption of its
officials by businessmen like
now-convicted Ng Lap Seng, and
its knowledge of the extensive
killing and abuse in the
Anglophone areas of Cameroon,
won't even answer publicly when
it employs a North Korea plant
in its Department of Political
Affairs. Repeatedly this year
Inner City Press has asked the
UN to confirm or deny and
provide any updates on the
acceptance by DPA of a North
Korea “Junior Professional
Officer.” Inner City Press even
asked now-gone Under Secretary
General Wu Hongbo. But even
after DPA under lameduck chief
Jeffrey Feltman accepted the
North Korean JPO, on October 12
Antonio Guterres' spokesman for
the day, when asked “can you
confirm a North Korean was
appointed to a low-level spot in
DPA,” said flatly, No. But
multiple sources tell Inner City
Press that the North Korean JPO
is in DPA's electoral unit - and
now, exclusively, that his name
is Kim Joo Sung and that he is
the son of a Worker's Party
official. After exclusively
publishing this, Inner City
Press asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric, who now
confirmed there is a North
Korean JPO in, he think, DPA
elections unit. But Dujarric
said he has no clue of the name
and wouldn't comment on his
"ancestors." Whether a North
Korea JPO in UN's Political
Affairs is the son of a Party
official is relevant. DPA's
spokesman Jose Luis Diaz
previously refused to respond to
Inner City Press' inquiry about
Jeff Feltman staying on at DPA
in order for his UN pension to
vest. It's time to clean house,
including in light of the UN's
shameful failure on Cameroon.
Jose Luis Diaz' former employer
Amnesty International has
reported on (some of) the abuses
in Cameroon, when UN DPA where
he works just helps cover up.
There must be something in the
UN water. We'll have more on
this - watch this site.
***
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