MACAO, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), here on Saturday appealed for residents' faith in the local financial system.

    

Edmund Ho Hau Wah (L), chief executive of Macao Special Administrative Region, speaks to reporters in Macao, south China, Sept. 17, 2005. He appealed for residents' faith in the local financial system. (Xinhua Photo)

Ho made the remarks while talking to media on the sidelines of a science promotion event.

    He said the recent money-laundering allegation from the United States government on Banco Delta Asia (BDA), a Macao-based bank, needs to be proved.

    He expressed the wish that local residents would keep their confidence in Macao's financial system, as the US charge "has nothing to do with the financial status of BDA."

    The MSAR government has always been in hard bid to maintain the sound running of the financial system, said Ho, adding that the Monetary Authority of Macao (MAM) has set up special task forces to follow up the probe into the BDA case.

    Ho wished that the incident would not tarnish the region's international image.

    The MAM also issued a statement late Friday, calling on local residents to maintain their confidence in Macao's financial system.

    Stuart Levey, the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) Thursday said in his report published on the web-page of the Department of Treasury that BDA has aided the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in series of money-laundering cases.

    The US official, in his report, also slammed the MSAR for its lax in curbing of money laundering.

    The BDA, established in Macao in 1935, currently operates eight branches and four offices in the special administrative region and Delta Asia Financial Group, BDA's parent company, has subsidiaries and offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo and the Chinese city of Zhuhai. Enditem