MEETING WITH DRESDNER BANK ON SUSPECTED DPRK

C O N F I D E N T I A L FRANKFURT 001245 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: TEN YEARS TAGS: EFIN KTFN ETTC GM SUBJECT: MEETING WITH DRESDNER BANK ON SUSPECTED DPRK TRANSACTIONS REF: EDDY-FROATS EMAILS Classified By: CG Jo Ellen Powell for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Post called the attention of Dresdner Bank to information that it may have facilitated (intentionally or not) a transaction for OFAC-designated Tanchon Commercial Bank. Dresdner representatives promised to look into the report and asked for more information (ACTION REQUEST IN PARA 5). END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) At Treasury request, Consul General met March 9 with Klaus Rosenfeld, Chief Financial Officer (responsible of compliance) for Dresdner Bank, one of Germany's three largest banks. Rosenfeld was joined by Dr. Dirk Scherp, Dresdner's head of compliance / Anti-Money Laundering. ¶3. (C) Per REF, CG told Rosenfeld we suspect individuals affiliated with a North Korean trading firm used Dresdner Bank as an intermediary for a payment made to Tanchon Commercial Bank, an institution closely related to KOMID and designated under Executive Order 13382. Rosenfeld expressed surprise and instructed Scherp to investigate fully with the goal of establishing whether Dresdner had had any dealings, however tangentially, with an OFAC-designated entity. Rosenfeld remarked that it is Dresdner's policy not to deal with rogue states including North Korea and Myanmar; given the small sums involved, Dresdner has no incentive to invite trouble via such dealings. Rosenfeld expressed Dresdner's desire to be thorough and forthcoming in looking into any suspect transaction(s) and to share that information with U.S. authorities to the utmost extent possible. ¶4. (SBU) According to Scherp, Dresdner's corporate board resolved in October 2006 not to have dealings with North Korea and other rogue states (in the case of Iran, Dresdner stopped conducting dollar transactions). The only exceptions to Dresdner's policy not to do business with such states is in accepting payments for well-known German and international customers "for instance, the German operations of Coca-Cola" where the nature of the transaction can be established beyond doubt. Even before then, it was Dresdner Board policy to pre-screen transactions to determine whether they would involve OFAC-designated "specially-designated nationals" (SDN's) at some point in the chain. ACTION REQUEST -------------- ¶5. (SBU) If possible, Dresdner Bank would appreciate any additional information the USG can provide about suspect transaction(s) conducted directly or indirectly with DPRK affiliates. ¶6. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. POWELL