National Bank of Pakistan escapes bankruptcy after plaintiff withdraws terror-financing case
Jun 15, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], June 15 : The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) nearly escaped a potential bankruptcy, as a high-profile terror-financing case filed against it in New York's federal court was withdrawn, a Pakistan media reported on Tuesday citing the sources at Pakistan Attorney General's Office.
According to the media reports, the plaintiff Harold Brown Sr, withdrew the case against the NBP, thus allowing the national bank to win the case.
The national bank was accused of facilitating the transfer of funds that were used to plan and execute an attack on a United States military base in Afghanistan, which killed nine American soldiers, reported Geo News.
The bank would have faced bankruptcy if it would have lost the case and would have been slapped with fines worth billions of dollars, said the report adding that the sources at the Attorney General's Office said that Pakistan would have faced serious issues at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In his filing, the plaintiff alleged that NBP provided financial support and banking services to several notorious terrorist groups and terrorist fundraisers, among them, Al Qaeda.
The case against NBP was being handled by the International Disputes Unit of the Attorney General's Office.
The report said that the judge dismissed the complaint with leave to replead and directed the parties to appear for the initial case management conference on April 2, 2021, after which the plaintiff agreed to withdraw the charges, the DAWN reported.
Earlier this year, the US Federal Reserve Board had announced a USD 20.4 million penalty against the NBP.
The New York Department of Financial Services also fined the bank USD 35 million for repeated compliance failures, taking the combined penalties to $55 million.
The bank also held a fine from the New York Department of Financial Services of USD 35 million for repeated compliance failures, taking the combined penalties to USD 55 million, the DAWN reported.
