Ex-Riggs Examiner Said Under Investigation

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Ex-Riggs Examiner Said Under Investigation
07.30.2004, 04:51 PM

The federal examiner who oversaw Riggs Bank during a period of deficient money-laundering controls and later became a senior executive at the bank is under investigation by the Justice Department, a person familiar with the inquiry said Friday.

The ethics investigation of R. Ashley Lee was triggered by a referral of the matter on July 20 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - where Lee was the lead examiner for Riggs - to the Justice Department, the person said on condition of anonymity. The referral was first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday.

Inquiries into activities of current or former federal employees by Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility can sometimes develop into criminal investigations.

Lee worked in the comptroller's office, a Treasury Department agency that oversees nationally-chartered banks, from 1998 until he retired in October 2002 and went to work for Riggs two weeks later. He was promoted to executive vice president and chief risk officer for Riggs last October.


A former Riggs senior vice president who was in charge of the Equatorial Guinea accounts, Simon Kareri, is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. He invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the July 15 hearing and refused to answer questions on the bank's handling of the accounts.

more
http://www.forbes.com/business/manufacturing/feeds/ap/2004/07/30/ap1483526.html

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