Riggs of US sidelines risk officer

THE US 'diplomat's bank' Riggs, in the dock for allegedly allowing money-laundering and shady deals with Saudi envoys, has placed chief risk officer Ashley Lee on administrative leave.

The Washington-based bank and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) face a Justice Department investigation, with Lee centre-stage, over apparent failure to follow US federal money-laundering laws.

Lee had been the OCC's examiner-in-charge of Riggs at the time of the alleged offences until his retirement in 2002, when he joined the bank. Riggs plans to sell its hallmark embassy banking business 'as soon as practicable'.

That sale was a key condition of the bank's' $779m (£425m) sale to Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services, announced last month.