ANTI-MONEY-LAUNDERING BILL THREATENS ONLY CRIMINALS

In his Sept. 13 column, Paul Craig Roberts misstates the provisions of H.R.
3886, the International Counter-Money Laundering Act, which was approved 31
to 1 by the House Banking Committee on June 8. The bill is drafted
carefully and targeted narrowly at offshore bank "secrecy" havens that
serve as the financial playgrounds of international drug lords, terrorists,
financial con men, arms smugglers, corrupt public officials and traffickers
in prostitution and people.

The bill categorically does not, as Mr. Roberts erroneously asserts,
require financial institutions to "maintain profiles of their customers'
finances without a warrant, evidence or reasonable suspicion of
wrongdoing," and under no possible interpretation would it "place each of
us under constant criminal investigation of our financial behavior."

The vast majority of Americans are law-abiding citizens who wouldn't know
the first thing about opening accounts in offshore havens in the Caribbean
or remote islands in the South Pacific with names most have never heard.
This bill has nothing to do with their privacy. It has everything to do
with their rights to be free of international criminal predators.

There are other Americans who are engaged in international banking for
business or other lawful purposes who see no need to disguise their
identity and who conduct trillions of dollars of business through nations
that, like the United States, subscribe to international banking standards.
Those engaged in lawful banking transactions also have nothing to fear from
this bill.

The only folks who need to fear for their privacy if this bill becomes law
are those seeking to move the proceeds of illegal activity into the U.S.
financial system through an offshore haven that countenances or openly
invites money laundering.

Crime is a multi-billion-dollar business. For example, the Treasury
Department estimates that illegal drug sales in this country produce
profits of more than $45 billion annually. Cutting off the financial
lifeblood of criminals engaged in such activity is critical to ending this
threat to America's young people.

The committee's goal with this legislation is to protect American families.
Mr. Roberts' reading of the bill is wrong in both its specifics and its intent.

David R. Runkel, Communications director, House Committee on Banking and
Financial Services, Washington