Prosecutors ready charges in Peravia US$31.3M bank fraud

Santo Domingo.- The Banks Superintendence on Monday announced it will charge Peravia bank’s senior managers, shareholders, board members and third parties with fraud of RD$1.41 billion (US$31.3 million), breach of trust, money laundering, forgery and conspiracy.

Banks Superintendent Luis Armando Asuncion made the announced, after concluding the official investigation into the collapsed Peravia bank.

He said 80% of Peravia’s operations were faked, by forging signatures to cash checks written to suppliers and stealing money via loans made to dummy recipients using customers’ data.

The Superintendent said Peravia executives resorted to various types of fraud since 2005 and continued after the sale and transfer of shares to the new stakeholders to commit fraud to steal bank funds.

It adds that 1,292 irregular credits were identified, equal to RD$1.41 billion (US$31.3 million), or 75.3% of the bank’s total credit portfolio.