MOSCOW, December 26 (RAPSI) – State Duma lawmaker Oleg Mikheyev has proposed changing guidelines for the banks dealing with transactions that appear to be suspicious, TASS reported on Friday.

For example, if banks suspects a client of attempting to launder criminal funds, they should not process it through the standard internal procedure but a procedure that is stipulated by law, which clearly specifies suspicious actions such as the client’s direct or indirect connection with a company whose assets have been blocked.

The MP has proposed allowing banks to suspend these transactions for five days rather than refusing to carry them through. At the same time, they should notify the authorities of these transactions. Mikheyev also said the bill should clearly say that the amount of information and the documents banks can demand from clients are stipulated by the law.

He recalled that the law on combating money laundering and terrorism financing was amended in June 2013 to allow banks to use internal oversight rules when making decisions to refuse to implement transactions.

Banks are currently not obliged to coordinate their internal oversight rules with authorized agencies.

The MP criticized this provision as a window for corruption, because rejecting a transaction can bankrupt the client company without making the bank responsible for the consequences. In a crisis, this can be used for corruption purposes, with companies paying money or facing bankruptcy, he said.