WILLEMSTAD - Under the pretext of the law against money laundering and financing terrorism, the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) requested the Court of Justice in Curaçao for an emergency measure against the international bank Banco del Orinoco N.V.
The Central Bank right after being granted this right, emitted a press release where they made this announcement. The CBCS said that they were “forced”, in view of deficiencies at Banco del Orinoco N.V., to petition the Court of First Instance of Curaçao to adopt an emergency measure with respect to Banco Del Orinoco N.V. The petition was made in the interest of depositors and other creditors of Banco Del Orinoco.
It’s seriously funny to see how radical the wording of this press release is. The Central Bank was forced to take measures? Who forced the Central Bank? Banco del Orinoco never hid anything from the Central Bank. The international bank was always cooperative and has made sure the Central Bank received every requested document. Banco del Orinoco N.V. made sure to always comply with whatever the CBCS had requested. In Banco del Orinoco’s view there was always an amical relation. This is the reason why Banco del Orinoco N.V. cannot understand why the bank was “forced” to act against the bank. The question, once again, arises, forced by who?
The CBCS also announced in its press release that it was acting in the interest of depositors and other creditors. Here to, the CBCS exaggerates in its wording. Again, the Banco del Orinoco N.V. has always informed the CBCS about all its depositors and creditors. The CBCS knows every single detail about the daily operations of the Banco del Orinico N.V.
Yes, there are several complaints filed against the Banco del Orinoco and the bank has dealt and is dealing with all of them. Banking regulations and international sanctions imposed by the United States have made it a bit difficult for the Banco del Orinoco N.V. to do business with some of its clients. Some of the information of these clients are not up to date which means that sometimes it becomes difficult to do comply with their request. But these are not Banco del Orinoco’s fault, as a matter of fact, Banco del Orinoco N.V. has always followed international banking regulation. And the CBCS is aware of this.
The CBCS also announced in its press release that it is responsible for supervising the financial sector in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. In doing so, it focuses on the interests of the present and future creditors of the institutions under its supervision. The CBCS sees to it that the supervised institutions deal responsibly with the resources entrusted to them and that they comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Again, the CBCS does not indicate which law was not complied with. They fail to show what exactly led to this decision. Again, Banco del Orinoco has always complied with every request made by the CBCS.
During their press conference, the director of the CBCS Dr. Jose Jardim was very unclear about the facts. They rushed to call a press conference for the local media to talk about an international bank, which dealings and operations have nothing to do with the local citizen. Banco del Orinoco clientele are not local in any way. The question arises too, why this sudden rush to make this public through a press release and a press conference? The press conference was attended by 5 journalists. Clearly this topic does not concern the local public.
But they did it anyways. During the press conference, 3 journalists asked questions. But Dr. Jardim was not in the position to answer any of these. Banco del Orinoco is a client of the Central Bank, meaning that the CBCS cannot divulge information about the Banco del Orinoco. Dr. Jardim already announced in a press release about the action. Then why rush to organize a press conference? What was the meaning behind this? Rushing to hold a press conference and can’t answer obvious questions.
The CBCS in recent years also took emergency measures against to local institutions. The Giro Bank (a local bank) and the ENNIA (a local insurance company) owned by Hushang Ansary, an Iranian-American former diplomat, businessman, and philanthropist. Both of these cases could have had serious complications for their clientele. Thus, the action of the CBCS was understandable.
The difference is why didn’t the CBCS act like it acted during the measure against CBCS? Giro Bank and ENNIA do have local clientele and these need to be protected by the CBCS. And in both cases, funds were being taken out by the owners. This was not the case at the Banco del Orinoco. The BOD Financial Group, which owns Banco del Orinoco guaranteed the CBCS that the assets of Banco del Orinoco NV are superior to its liabilities and the integrity of those assets has been evaluated by the most important global audit firms acting as independent auditors.
There is something else behind the actions of the Central Bank, and especially Dr. Jose Jardim. If they continue down this path, soon Curaçao will be left without international banks and a ruined financial sector.
