PRESS RELEASE: Three of Europe’s Banking Giants Accused of Money Laundering Lately. Total of $238 Billion Involved

The

largest Nordic Bank is the latest victim of the region’s widespread

money laundering scandal. Nordea

Bank Abp

supposedly handled almost 700 million euros (equivalent to $793

million) in disputed funds. Investigators believe that some of these

funds are connected to the death of Sergei Magnitsky who died in a

Russian prison after acting as the whistle-blower for this scandal.

The claims were made in an exclusive report by Finnish broadcaster YLE on March 4, citing leaked documents spanning between 2005 and 2017. A tainted picture is forming with regards to Nordic banks. Often through their Baltic units, the banks are becoming hubs for Russian criminals who are eager to invest their illegally amassed wealth into the West.

Earlier Casualties

On February 19, 2019, the Board of Estonia’s Financial Supervision Authority issued a directive to Danske Bank to ban the activities of the bank’s branch in Estonia. The expulsion was done in response to this historic money laundering scandal. The bank is also under investigation in the United States after admitting its participation in the $230 billion Estonian dirty money scandal.

Estonia Expels Danske Bank in Response to Historic Money Laundering Scandal. https://t.co/ARtl6q7l14 #Bank #Banking #DanskeBank #Money #Laundering #Estonia #Lithuania #Latvia #Finance

— Crypto_Vibes (@Crypto_Vibes) February 20, 2019

Sweden’s oldest lender that also doubles up as the biggest Baltic financial group, Swedbank AB , also got entangled in the same scandal ($5.8 billion USD involved) in February and is currently under investigations by Estonian and Swedish financial regulators.

Swedbank Suspected of $5.8 Billion Money Laundering. https://t.co/2yemGwyzGk #Monay #Finance #AML #Swedbank #Bank #Banking #Blockchain

— Crypto_Vibes (@Crypto_Vibes) February 20, 2019

An

analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in London, Philip Richards,

believes that the scandal is set to run and run without any end in

sight until banks publish the full extent of their involvement in the

dubious transactions.

Latest Allegations

Casper von Koskull, the Nordea CEO, acknowledged that the industry has been naive in dealing with money laundering while speaking in an interview with YLE. He said that Nordea takes this matter seriously and agreed that banks in the past have underestimated the complexity of the way money launderers operate. On the other hand, the bank said that the latest revelations are old claims that Nordea has already responded to.

The latest allegations revealed by Danish newspaper Berlingske and YLE state that most of the money in question was transacted in the bank’s operations in Denmark, Estonia, and Finland originating from Lithuania’s now-defunct Ukio Bankas ($6.79 billion USD involved). Also, shell companies were used but it is not clear whether all the transactions were necessarily illegal.

Julie Galbo, Nordea Chief Risk Officer, announced that the bank cannot comment on particular transactions or client relations. But, she told Berlingske newspaper that some things happened but they should not have happened. Nordea shares fell by around 6.5% when word broke earlier in the day that YLE and Berlingske were preparing that report.

However, the stock bounced back slightly after investors realized that the scandal was not as big as that associated with the Danske Bank .

Nordea Bank Abp Stocks Bounced Back. Bloomberg.com

The Nordea assertions make a part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project’s investigation that is affecting several other major banks in the region.

The

investigation project is known as the Troika Laundromat that revealed

76 so-called nodes created by employees of a private Russian

investment bank. The created nodes were designed to move roughly $8.8

billion for Russian businessmen working closely with the Kremlin.

In

2018, Nordea moved its headquarters from Sweden to Finland. The shift

resulted from the bank’s failure to live up to anti-money

laundering rules that made Swedish authorities to fine it in the

past. However, the bank insists that it is cooperating with all the

relevant authorities handling this matter.

A Witness

Investor

Bill Browder recently complained against Nordea filing claims that

stated that the bank is heavily linked to the Danske scandal.

Finland’s authorities are reviewing the case and have not yet

decided whether the investigation is warranted. Browder targeted

Danske trying to figure out the beneficiaries of Magnitsky’s murder

who helped uncover a Russian

tax fraud

case.

Browder also asserts that he has conclusive evidence implicating Nordic banks to playing an integral role in the epicentre of Russian money laundering. He also says that he has more evidence that will shed light on the case.

When Blockchain?

With such cases becoming the norm around the world, maybe the traditional global financial networks need to implement blockchain in all operations. Since nothing can be hidden on the blockchain platform, such cases can be solved easily and all perpetrators will be brought to book within the shortest time possible.

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