Boston, MA 09/04/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Recently, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) agreed to pay an amount of $217,841 in order to resolve the probability of its civil liability for violating a range of sanction programs pertaining to OFAC, the Treasury Department of U.S.
Citigroup’s Remedial Action
This is seen as a remedial action of the company to ascertain that programmatic fix took place in lieu of any repercussions which might have risen from a clear violation on January 12, 2011. As per the statement issued by the Treasury Department, the company assisted OFAC throughout investigations, including thorough and prompt response to information requests from OFAC regarding the matter.
In a statement, the spokeswoman of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Molly Millerwise Meiners told that a settlement on the case has been reached and that the company was compliant with the Agency’s requirements.
Background of the Case
The Office of Foreign Assets Control said that the Malaysian unit of the bank, viz. Citi Penang generated a total of four applications related to export bill accumulation, which summed up at $638,074.15 from April 2009- November 2009. This was done in aid of Citibank, Hong Kong, which in turn was a liaison in transporting products to Iran.
Even though proper documentation associated with a collection of export bill was there with the bank, but the company’s unit in Malaysia did not undertake proper screening or review of bills associated with lading or shipment opinion and origin certificates, leading to violations.
The software of the bank made not identification of references to any of the sanctioned companies during payment instructions. Also, there were no manual interventions for the same.
OFAC’s Role
The primary role of OFAC is to administer as well as ensure enforcement of trade and economic sanctions against narcotics traffickers, regimes, terrorists and foreign countries, apart from the ones who are involved in activities pertaining to weapon amassing.
