Djem Bank misses deadline for transferring assets to Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

Djem Bank has not yet fulfilled the National Bank`s order to transfer its dubious assets totaling $16.5 million to Belarus, Anatoly Drozdov, spokesman for the National Bank of Belarus (NBB), told BelaPAN.

The NBB had given the private bank until October 15 to execute the order.

Mr. Drozdov said the bank has settled about 40 percent of its debt to individual customers and still owes $6.4 million.

The bank is paying the debt by slashing its credit portfolio.

The National Bank of Belarus installed its temporary administration at the bank for a three-month period on July 25, saying that the move was aimed at protecting the interests of its creditors and clients under the Bankruptcy Law.

The temporary administration was withdrawn in mid-August but the bank`s operations remain restricted to payment transfers.

In its August 9 statement, the National Bank accused the financial institution of depositing much of its resources with foreign banks and providing over $16 million in dubious loans to resident enterprises of a Kyrgyz-based free economic zone and several US companies.

Earlier this month, the Prosecutor General`s Office issued an arrest warrant for Sergei Bliznyuk, acting director general, for alleged illegal transfer of $3 million from US-based borrowers to another company "with a view to disguising the true financial position."

Djem Bank Director General Aleksandr Tatarintsev was taken into custody on an abuse of power charge in August.