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Under surveillance

Under surveillance

A new book claims that the National Security Agency, one of the most secret intelligence-gathering entities in the US, spied on Banco Delta Asia for an unspecified period of time. The bank's owner, Stanley Au, refuses to comment on this allegation – but he acknowledges that CIA agents paid him a number of visits over the years.

Three years after the US Treasury Department fingered Macau’s Delta Asia Bank (BDA) for sanctions, over alleged money laundering and counterfeiting activities conducted on behalf of North Korea, it’s still uncertain whether the Bush administration in fact had hard evidence to back up such a move and – equally important – whether their [...]

No Evidence

No Evidence

Book author Mike Chinoy is deeply sceptical of intelligence used by the Bush Administration to move against Delta Asia Bank and the Pyongyang regime.

The designation of Delta Asia Bank (BDA) as a primary money laundering concern was leaked to the Wall Street Journal a few days before it was formally announced by the US Treasury Department. Would you say that from the very beginning the BDA case was just a tool used by hardliners in Washington to make sure dialogue with North Korea became impossible?
Mike Chinoy – The attempt to target North Korean illicit activities was the result of several factors. [...]