BOC refuses to accept transfer of frozen funds from BDA

The Bank of China (BOC) in Beijing refused to accept the transfer of frozen funds from Macao-based Banco Delta Asia (BDA), said chief Russian negotiator to the six-party talks Alexander Losyukov.

Losyukov said the six-party talks achieved no results on March 21 due to the frozen funds issue between the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the United States

Losyukov said he would leave for Moscow on Thursday to make preparations for Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming state visit to China. Russian special envoy Rakhmanin would then pick up the job as chief Russian negotiator.

Losyukov said he was cautious about what results could be finally gained during this round of six-party talks, adding that it was possible for all the parties to have further discussions on other issues only when some breakthrough could be made on the frozen funds issue.

The frozen funds issue came under spotlight when an account held by the DPRK was frozen in 2005, after the U.S. Treasury Department suspected the BDA of helping the DPRK launder money and ordered American financial institutions to suspend business ties with the bank.

The United States on Monday agreed to transfer DPRK's (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) 25 million U.S. dollars frozen at BDA to a DPRK account at the Bank of China in Beijing.

Source: Xinhua