Estonia Charges Six Danske Bank Ex-employees for Money Laundering

Estonia Charges Six Danske Bank Ex-employees for Money Laundering

Reuters reported yesterday that Estonia’s state prosecutor had charged six ex-employees of Danske Bank in money laundering worth $1.6 billion and 6 million euros. This happened at the defunct office of Danske Bank in Estonia on Monday.

Danske Bank’s operations in Estonia became the hot cover story in the compliance industry as a massive money laundering scandal was uncovered. Nearly $219.5 billion was laundered through a non-resident portfolio in suspicious payments between 2007 and 2015.

6 former employees of the Estonian Branch deliberately concealed the identities of the owners of suspicious funds who were suspected to have criminal backgrounds. State Prosecutor Maria Entsik told the press that they had seized 10 million euros in the form of property which the six charged earned through money laundering service.

Maria further told that while hiding the money laundering trails from other units of the bank, they misguided clients into hiding the electronic trail of bank transfers, prepared documents, and sold them to companies to hide the real ownership of funds.

Danske Bank previously pleaded guilty to bank fraud conspiracy in December last year. It paid $2 billion in agreement with the United States and Denmark. However, the bank is still a prime suspect and subject of criminal investigation in France due to being related to the Estonia Case.

Also Read: Kyckr and Blacksmith KYC have Teamed up to Provide a Plug-and-play Solution for Enhanced Client Onboarding

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *