international wire-transfer
my business completed a transaction. payment w/a wire-transfer from London to U.S. was intercepted by a local London-based UN office. Citing article 102, section 36 sub-section IV of the 2001 financial and allied matters decree 20, they require a payment to obtain an anti-terrorist clearance certificate and indemnity bond clearance fund certificate. i had never heard of this before. how do i find out if they are legitimate or if this is some scamers who intercepted a business transaction? will i need a US attorney to step in to inform the London bank of a possible scam?
Re: international wire-transfer
Check with the sending bank and your bank to see if they can confirm the legitimacy. You should be able to find the cited agreement online to see what it requires, maybe on the US website. You don’t need an attorney to report possible fraud to the banks.
David W. Nance
DWNance.com founding member of NanceGroup.com
5700 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70115
Re: international wire-transfer
This does not sound legitimate. For one thing, I would be surprised to hear that UN has the mandate to enforce any financial laws or to intercept wires — this is all done by the law enforcement arms of national governments. Contact your bank first, get the facts straight (the bank would know if any government tried to block your wire) and then have your corporate counsel advise you on the next steps (such as reporting this to the appropriate authorities).
William Frenkel
Frenkel Sukhman LLP
1 North Broadway, Suite 1040, 10th floor
White Plains, NY 10175