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Putin family, FSB allegedly used Danish bank for money laundering: report

PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek 27.02.2018 15:35
Russian money was allegedly laundered through the Estonian branch of Danske Bank, Denmark’s largest bank, by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s family and the Federal Security Service (FSB), a whistleblower report said, according to UK daily the Guardian.
Vladimir Putin. Photo: Mihailo1997/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)Vladimir Putin. Photo: Mihailo1997/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The whistleblower report, obtained by Danish newspaper Berlingske, was shared with the Guardian, the British daily said.

The allegations pertain to a number of companies, many of them registered in London and among them Lantana Trade LLP, which told the UK’s registrar of companies that it was “dormant” but in fact turned over millions of euros daily, according to the Guardian.

L Burke Files, an international financial investigator, was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “The activity in the account was in every way indicative of money laundering. There were many large transactions and all of them done in one or two days. The money didn’t linger. Here is a small branch of a very big bank that has an account moving tens of millions every day.”

Files said that between USD 2.2-3.3 billion (PLN 7.4-11.2 billion) was laundered in total, the Guardian said.

Files added: “This is such an excellent way to move large sums of money that I am sure is still occurring. It is a very difficult trail to follow,” the Guardian reported.

The whistleblower report said that while Danske Bank was not able to identify specific people behind Lantana, “apparently it was discovered that they included the Putin family and the FSB”, the Guardian wrote.

Danske was cited by the Guardian as saying: “We have launched a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of the events at that time in our Estonian branch.”

(vb/pk)

tags: Russia
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