Court Report: Kiwibank too small
Hamish McNicol on anti-money laundering and Ross Asset Management. With special audio feature.
Hamish McNicol on anti-money laundering and Ross Asset Management. With special audio feature.
A landmark anti-money laundering dispute between a foreign exchange dealer and Kiwibank finally began in the High Court at Auckland this week.
NBR court reporter Hamish McNicol says proceedings were first started last March after the bank told money remitter E-Trans International Finance it was closing its bank accounts because of anti-money laundering concerns.
E-Trans accuses the bank of adopting a “blanket de-risking” approach that breaches its legal obligations and is in direct opposition to a Reserve Bank directive last January, Mr McNicol says.
In another long-running dispute, Ross Asset Management liquidator PwC has announced it has reached settlements worth $446,000 with three investors they were seeking to claw money back from.
But Mr McNicol says further legal action has been started against two who have declined to settle or to enter into a standstill agreement.
A decision on the appeal in the first clawback case, involving Wellington lawyer Hamish McIntosh, is expected soon.
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