José Manuel Mena, president of the Association of Banks, stated that no industry is immune to organized crime following the Operación Tokio case.
Nearly two weeks ago prosecutors formalized 17 defendants for criminal association, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking and vehicle smuggling in a network linked to Tren de Aragua involving 75 billion pesos.
Two employees from Santander and BancoEstado were involved, although they lacked access to databases or authority to make transfers. Banks had sent suspicious activity reports to the UAF as early as two years ago.
Mena said the case drives improvements in controls and called for bridges with the public sector to receive feedback from the UAF. He noted the banking system has over 50,000 professionals and monthly transactions reach one billion operations.
