Mr. Fox, let me ask you about the Falcone accounts at Bank of America.

So to make a change in that, Congress would have to make a change.

The Subcommittee is not going to rule on your claim of attorney-client privilege because you have exercised your Fifth Amendment rights.

I think we should have handled these in a better way.

stopping the flow of illegal money is critical because foreign corruption damages civil society, undermines the rule of law, and threatens American security.

One of the suspicious things, I think you would agree, is that instead of a mortgage on a $30 million property, that there was $30 million wired into an escrow account.

You would foreclose the possibility of discovery at some future point of criminal conduct you might want to pursue.

I agree with you completely that I would love to see broader application of these protections.

And what this transaction shows is really the power of the PATRIOT Act.

We are appreciative of that cooperation of you and other witnesses.

Mr. Birrell, did your company, the Grace Group, receive funds from both Mr. Omar Bongo, and an entity named Ayira?

If you are not going to supply that, you will have to let us know why, because that, then, is going to become an issue between the Subcommittee and our authority.

Is there not an advantage in having that list be public?

Will you let the Subcommittee know the next time that FinCEN or the Treasury looks at the three areas that we talked about today?

Do you know whether or not Mr. Obiang is being considered for placement on this list?

the Department of Justice says about Mr. Obiang, that they are investigating suspected criminal conduct of Mr. Obiang and his associates involving the illicit transfer and laundering of assets believed to be derived from extortion…

I think, is a significant step, and I hope it is taken note of, that the Bank of America, at least with a significant number or certain categories of clients, is going to obtain the beneficial ownership of those accounts.

Unfortunately, the players in the government of Angola are the same, with a few key players in positions of power and closely managed under the leadership of the current President, Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.

Is it HSBC's policy to facilitate, to help a client such as that client to move money offshore in order to avoid your own government's court order?

What these documents show is quite the opposite, that you facilitate people evading the law of your own country--back then.

But it shows just in this example that if we had some kind of a 'know your customer' rule for escrow agents, that it could make a real difference.

There was an agreement signed.

But you can't do that with real estate brokers or escrow agents?

Is there some sense of reluctance to really take a close look at and monitor an attorney-client or a law firm account?

I can't even think of any other country that does it, but maybe there are some beside Angola.