Bank of China denies claims it aided terrorist groups

Bank of China spokesman Wang Zhaowen denied on Wednesday accusations that the bank had transferred money to terrorist groups in the Middle East, Xinhua reports.

According to a statement released by the bank, the claims made in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles are "absolutely groundless," AP says.

The lawsuit, filed by more than a hundred victims of terrorism in Israel, accused the bank of transferring several million dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and ignoring Israeli demands to stop the practice, AP writes.

According to the plaintiffs, who are being represented by attorneys in Los Angeles, New York and Israel, the money helped to facilitate the attacks carried out in Israel by two Palestinian groups between 2004 and 2007.

Wang underlined that the Bank of China abides by the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist requirements of the United Nations. In addition, its own policies also forbid it from providing financial services to terrorist groups, he said.

According to the lawsuit, Israeli officials met with Chinese police and central bank officials in 2005 in a bid to prevent the bank from continuing to make more transfers, but the practice continued, AP writes.

The lawsuit says that the money was transferred from the Middle East to branches in the US, and from there to an account in a bank branch in Guangzhou, China. The money was then wired to terrorist leaders in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, AP says, citing the lawsuit.

Wang said that the bank is prepared to fight the lawsuit and is considering the option of lodging a counter-claim. The US court would make a just verdict based on the law and the facts, he added.

China's first anti-money laundering law was enacted in 2007 and requires banks and other companies to keep records of clients' background information and to report large and suspicious transactions, according to AP.

By the end of 2006, a total of 1,239 cases involving 387.1 billion yuan (38.4 billion euros) were reported to police, AP says, citing the website of the central bank's China Anti-Money Laundering Monitoring and Analysis Center.

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