Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 25, 1990                   TAG: 9003251911
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PANAMA TARGETS LAUNDERING

At a joint news conference with Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, Ford declared "We're partners in a joint venture. We are committed to this battle."

Ford, who last week lobbied Congress for a $500 million aid package, declared "The United States is not imposing anything on us. We are cooperating" on the bank issue.

Already, he noted, the new government has enacted a law that imposes stiffer fines for failure to report major cash transactions than those faced by U.S. banks. The penalties range from $100,000 to $1 million.

Ford and Thornburgh met for about 30 minutes in the attorney general's office. "Good friends can discuss everything in 30 minutes," Ford said.

Thornburgh said "The most important thing we did was exchange phone numbers. We're going to be working together on drug trafficking and money laundering. And we pledged to make available a number of key people to one another."

Ford said, "We're not telling the world that we are no longer going to be a financial center. But we are going to be a decent, honest financial center."

On Thursday, the House Banking Committee, moving with unusual speed, approved 48-0 a bill that would authorize the Treasury Department to revoke the charters of U.S. banks caught laundering drug money. Bank officers could be banned from the profession for life.

The bill also reaches out to savings and loans, credit unions and even state-chartered banks, whose federal insurance could be revoked.

The measure reflected congressional disappointment in the Justice Department's recent settlement of a money laundering case in Tampa, Fla., earlier this year.

In that instance, two units of the Bank of Commerce and Credit International pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy involving, among others, Panama's Gen. Manuel Noriega, now awaiting trial in Miami on drug charges.

BCCI agreed to forfeit $14 million in deposits and $1 million in interest. While federal prosecutors hailed it as the largest criminal penalty ever imposed against a bank, congressional critics said it wasn't enough when measured against BCCI's assets of more than $20 billion.

The institution is based in Luxembourg and has offices in 73 countries.