CBA accused of 100 extra breaches

THE Commonwealth Bank has been hit with another 100 alleged contraventions of antimoney laundering and counter-terrorism laws, including failing to quickly report two suspicious matters relating to the financing of terrorism.

Austrac yesterday filed an amended statement of claim to the Federal Court in which the Federal Government’s financial intelligence unit updated the total number of alleged breaches by Australia’s largest bank to more than 53,800.

Among the latest allegations are that CBA failed to re- port terrorism financing suspicions within 24 hours, was slow or negligent in reporting 54 suspicious matters relating to accounts or people under law-enforcement investigation, and in 38 instances did not appropriately monitor risk, even after becoming aware of suspicious activity.

The statement of claim now includes alleged breaches from as early as December 2011, rather than May 2012 as in the original claim.

Austrac chief executive Nicole Rose said the additional alleged contraventions were identified after civil penalty proceedings were initiated in August.

“These allegations are very serious and reflect systemic non-compliance over approximately six years,” Ms Rose said.

The maximum penalty for each alleged contravention in the amended statement of claim is $21 million.

The bank argues its failures should not amount to separate contraventions of the law, which would dramatically reduce any potential fine.