The so-called “Troika Laundry” scheme was uncovered by investigative journalists as part Of a project to cover organized crime and corruption and a Lithuanian news website 15min.lt OCCRP said the operation allowed the flow of about $ 4.8 billion in funds from Russian companies and people to Europe and the United States from 2003 to early 2013.
As part of the project, the idea of this scheme with the largest Russian private investment Bank Troika Dialog emerged.
ING, one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, is the latest lender to be named in connection with the scandal as OCCRP drops its findings in collaboration with various media outlets. Shares in the lender fell more than 4% after Dutch newspaper Trouw reported that hundreds of millions of suspicious euros were funneled through ING’s Russian operations.
Media outlets have named a host of other lenders with suspicious accounts or links to Russia (Bloomberg has a handy list), including Nordea, Swedbank, ABN Amro, Rabobank and Danske Bank (which has already been lured into a money laundering scandal involving Russian funds).
Dankse Bank, along with Lithuanian lender Ukio Bankas, processed payments through Austrian accounts worth about $967 million, according to Hermitage Capital Management through OOCRP.
Read more: Explosive exposure of Russia’s $9 billion money laundering operation confuses Citigroup, Raiffeisen and Deutsche Bank
“We take suspicious money laundering activities very seriously and invest significant resources in these important matters,” Swedbank said in a statement. “We are investigating allegations made in the Media and are cooperating with the relevant authorities.”
ABN Amro has indicated it has nothing to do with the current charges since the Bank was bought in 2007, moving any of the funds mentioned into the accounts of other lenders, in response to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
Nordea, Rabobank and Danske Bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
“We take all signals of this kind, many of the years ago, very seriously, as we have done in recent years, especially in the context of our Know Your Customer (KYC) enhancement program,” ING spokesman Raymond Vermeulen said in a statement to Business Insider.
ING already paid a fine of 775 million pounds ($875 million) last year after a Dutch investigation found that criminals could have laundered money through their accounts for several years. Its shares closed up 2.2% on Wednesday.
Raiffeisen Bank was hit by a scandal when the information was first disclosed in Newspapers including The Guardian, with its shares down as much as 14% on Tuesday. The Austrian lender has a large presence in Russia and its shares fell 1.8% on Wednesday.
Raiffeisen, in a comment to Business Insider after the revelations on Tuesday, said it was conducting an internal investigation and ” complies with all anti-money laundering requirements.”
Deutsche Bank – already plagued by controversy – has also been hit, with more than $ 889 million said to have moved through the Bank’s accounts to Htm Laundry accounts, according to German publication S’ddeutsche Zeitung.
Deutsche Bank declined to comment after Tuesday’s statement in response to the allegations. “Deutsche Bank’s customers are so-called Respondent banks,” it said. “First of all, the task of the Respondent Bank is to check its customers in accordance with the applicable know-your-customer rules.
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