“Browder on the way to notify Swedbank”
“the Problem with Russian money laundering is much larger than Swedbank and Danske Bank, according to financier Bill Browder.”
“He promises a complaint against Swedbank in brief and is at the same time critical of the authorities’ efforts against money laundering.”
” It is our intention to submit a notification to the Swedish authorities on that part of the funds in the crime that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered (2008) has flowed through Swedbank, says Bill Browder to the TT.”
“The Russian lawyer sergei Magnitsky died under suspicious circumstances in a Russian prison in 2009, the year after he directed the leadership contest against the Russian government officials.”
“Browder, who had hired Magnitsky, would not currently go into any detail about the content of the notification against the Swedbank, which is now being prepared. But he describes Swedbank as one of several key players in a gigantic network of Russian money laundering.”
“From criminal circles.”
“unlike the Danske Bank used Swedbank accounts in the first place by the baltic companies, not by foreign customers, according to Browder. The problem for Swedbank are, according to the financier, to what looked like regular business accounts in the Baltic countries was used for receiving and sending large sums of money, which originally came from the criminal Russian circles.”
“TT: How big suspicious amount do you estimate have been sent via Swedbank?”
“– This will we uncover when we submit our registration, “he says, and adds that this will happen”
“If the employees in the Swedbank consciously or unconsciously helped to wash the money like Browder that it is up to judicial authorities to investigate.”
“– But it does not take much for an outsider to see that this is moving on suspicious transactions. It raises questions? Why didn’t those responsible for checking the same thing? And why was not reported this to the authorities?”
“the SVT uppdrag granskning reported in the last week about how they come across data that shows that some 50 suspects, the account holder washed approximately sek 40 billion with the help of Swedbankkonton in Estonia during the years 2007-2015.”
“Nordea accounts should also have been used, according to Browder, who, however, stresses that it is clear that Danske Bank played the heaviest role in the skein when it was in the bank as foreign customers were allowed to open accounts.”
“According to an investigation made on behalf of Danske Bank, which decided to close down all operations in the Baltic countries and Russia, it can be over 2 000 billion washed through the Danish bank branch in Tallinn.”
“I think that most of this is money laundering,” says Browder.”
“– of course It depends on how you define money laundering. There are people who want to avoid taxes, duties, and people who move around utpressningspengar or drug money, ” he adds.”
“If there are signs that even SEB, another Swedish bank in the baltic market, have been involved he does not want to go into.”
” We do not want to discuss individual banks, which we suspect until we notify the bank. The only reason why we are now going out and talking about Swedbank is the SVT-reporting, ” says Browder.”
“He is at the same time clear that the problem of Russian money laundering is not isolated to the Baltic states and the Nordic region:”
“– We will shortly reveal a large penningtvätthärva in another european country, not nordic. Even then, there are links to the Magnitsky case. This is a european banking problems, ” says Browder.”
“He adds that it is also previously known that a large number of banks in the other baltic countries and in Cyprus has been used for Russian money laundering in much the same way as Danske Bank’s branch in Tallinn.”
“– In Lithuania it was Ukio Bank, in Latvia it was ABLV and Trasta Komercbanka, and in Cyprus you had FBME. All of these banks were involved in massive penningtvättoperationer and all have been closed down, ” he says.”
“This stops, however, not the flow of money from criminal activities in Russia out in the world, according to Browder.”
” Figures, perhaps, is something less when the economy goes worse. But the extent of the utpressningsverksamheten, fraud, svindlerierna and corruption is still grotesque. And all that money needs to be channelled out of Russia, so that the beneficiaries should be able to use them.”
“Browder believe that the nordic banks that are involved, not least Danske Bank, expect massive US fines.”
“– Given the scale of Danske Bank’s problems, and given the harsh attitude of the american authorities, it is difficult to imagine that they will pass off lightly. We don’t know if it takes the cabbage on Danske Bank or if it just becomes very expensive, ” he says.”
“He deals at the same time a swipe against the european government system against money laundering.”
“– It does not work. The main reason for it not working is that the laws and rules that are not applied in law enforcement, ” says Browder.”
“According to Browder, he has on several occasions tried to get various european authorities to investigate and ask those involved to account for money laundering connected to the Magnitsky case, including in Denmark and Estonia.”
” We notified of this when the former of these banks went on, and the authorities had been able to stop a lot if they had acted.”
“This motivates US to act, despite the fact that those suspected of the crimes should be prosecuted in Europe, according to Browder:”
“– I fear that nothing will happen if actions are not taken from the united states.”
“the Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky revealed 2007-2008 to high-ranking Russian government officials had embezzled several billion that would have been paid in taxes by american businessman Bill Browders fund Hermitage Capital. A year later the death of Magnitsky, 37 years old, in the Butyrkafängelset in Moscow.”
“According to the critics, the financier William”
“the united states introduced the 2013 sanctions against 18 Russian persons suspected to have been involved in the killing of the lawyer.”
“Bill Browder, born in the USA but now a british citizen, was with the Hermitage in the early 2000’s, a leading financial player in Russia, with the world’s largest Rysslandsfond. But in 2005 (after ten years as an investors in Russia), cut it out with president Vladimir Putin and Browder was ported from Russia as a threat to national security.”