'Thousands of Dutch blacklisted by banks'

Published: June 24, 2017 09:11
Last update: June 24, 2017 11:52

Thousands of Dutch people are on a blacklist, which uses banks to report unusual transactions, money laundering and terrorist financing. Many BNIs would be involved.
That reports the Radio1 research program Argos and magazine OneWorld.

The composition of that list, which is also used by the Dutch banks, does not apply to government control. The data is outdated, incorrect or based on dubious sources, according to Argos and OneWorld. The NPO Radio1 program devoted a broadcast on Saturday afternoon to the list of the World-Check company with over 2 million names worldwide.

According to Argos, it is striking that there are many names of (former) politicians and their relatives who are regarded as so-called PEPs (politically exposed persons). The purpose of the registration is the prevention of corruption and the barring of money. Those lists also contain names of criminals and terrorists in other categories.

Mark Rutte
According to Argos, the names of the princesses Amalia, Ariane and Alexia, the mother of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, of State Secretary Sharon Dijksma and her family members, the group leader Alexander Pechtold (D66), Peter R. Vries (as a Member of the Candidate Chamber in 2005) and Albert Verlinde, through his former relationship with Mayor Onno Hoes of Maastricht.

The use of such names lists is confirmed by the Dutch Association of Banks (NVB). However, she argues that it is a blacklist. According to a spokesman, it is a legal obligation to monitor unusual transactions of people registered as PEP. "There is absolutely no barrier to them for them."

Outsourcing
Banks do not keep that registration themselves, but spend it on commercial parties. The largest of those commercial service providers, according to researchers World-Check, owned by media company Thomson-Reuters.

Yvonne Willemsen, head of security affairs of the NVB, said in the Argos broadcast not to be in favor of such outsourcing. "Creating these types of lists is really a government task," she says. "The moment you get an obligation to identify people, you think I should be the government to tell who it is."

Thomson Reuters
Owner Thomson Reuters claims that it's a blacklist. It's not the case that everyone on the World Check list automatically has something on his stick. According to the group, it is only a help for banks to estimate risks.

But Berlin sociologist Andrej Holm understands his own saying, just now why he was removed as a customer by his bank for many years shortly after he opened a bank account. About the left-wing scientist Holm, at World Check, he has "suspected ties with terrorism."

Greenpeace protesters arrested in 2001 in the US because of the unauthorized entry of a site are still in the category of criminals.

By: ANP