Search for criminal assets: recovery agency gets tips from 69 banks

Sixty-nine banking institutions provide the National Agency for Identification, Search and Management of Assets Obtained through Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) with secret banking information about legal entities and individuals.

This was reported by the ARMA press service, Ukrinform reports.

"For the effective search of illicit assets, as of today, the National Agency has established information sharing with 69 banking institutions (including those that are at the stage of liquidation). Therefore, at ARMA's written request, banks provide information regarding legal entities and individuals, which contains bank secrets," the statement reads.

The national agency noted that in the first quarter of this year, 1,258 inquiries were sent to 69 banks, which is three times more than in the same period last year.

In accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Banks and Banking Activities, the agency is entitled to receive data on customer bank accounts and operations carried out for the benefit or on behalf of the client, namely information on the availability of accounts, account numbers, balance of funds on accounts, debit operations from accounts and/or crediting to accounts, payment destination, identification data of counterparties, account number and bank code of counterparties, etc.

As reported, in March, the National Agency for Identification, Search and Management of Assets Obtained through Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) searched more than 4,400 property objects and discovered assets of sanctioned individuals worth about UAH1.27 billion.

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