KUWAIT CITY, Nov 29, (KUNA): Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) Tuesday brushed aside press reports claiming that two of the bank’s board members resigned over a report related to what was known as “millions’ deposits” and money laundering operations.

The reports also claimed that CBK board finalized, in a meeting held yesterday, a report about the deposits and the money laundering operations, and that a report would be referred to the public prosecution later this week.

The board “did not meet yesterday,” CBK Governor Sheikh Saleh Abdulaziz Al-Sabah confirmed to KUNA.
He explained that any notices to the public prosecution regarding money laundering operations were under jurisdiction of a special financial investigation unit, an independent entity that was established by the minister of finance.

Relevant
CBK “has nothing to do with what the unit is doing, and the board is not informed of any relevant reports,” said the Governor.

“Reports over suspected money laundering operations are being directly sent by the financial investigations unit to the public prosecution,” he said.

Sheikh Salem said the unit “has finalized all reports regarding all notices received by the public prosecution over suspected money laundering operations, and they were referred to the public prosecution to continue probing from its part.”

Earlier, the The Kuwait Banking Association (KBA) underlined the dedication of local banks in their efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism funding.

Assessing their performance on these measures, Secretary General Hamad Al-Hasawi told KUNA that ìa report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveals no evidence of money laundering or terrorism funding in Kuwait.î Local banks are devoted to their role in tackling money laundering and terrorism funding on a professional scale, based on caution and wariness, which is far from any political or social motives, due to the sensitivity of the issue.

In the last five years, some 100 suspicious cases were referred to authorities by local banks, he said.