Offshore Banking Bill Attacked
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Promising a fight on the floor of the Senate, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said today that he planned to ”toughen up” legislation proposed by the Clinton administration to combat money laundering. Senator Schumer’s main criticism of a White House proposal announced on Wednesday was that penalties against offshore banks or countries would be left to the discretion of the United States authorities rather than being set off automatically when money-laundering abuses were uncovered. Speaking at a hearing on money laundering convened by Representative Jim Leach, the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the House Banking Committee, Senator Schumer said that an effective policy against money laundering required that suspect offshore banks be automatically forbidden access to the United States banking system. ”In my years as a legislator, I’ve observed time and again that in the international arena, discretion is usually a code word for delay and avoid,” Senator Schumer said. ”There is no reason to allow any of these banks to exist because we know their sole — and only — purpose is money laundering. What discretion do we need?” More : query.nytimes.com |