Charges pressed against Dutch banks in Russian money laundering case: report
Business man Bill Browder pressed money laundering charges against a number of banks and businesses in the Netherlands. The Pubic Prosecutor is currently investigating the charges to see if criminal prosecution is justified, RTL Nieuws reports.
According to Zembla an NRC, this involves an amount of at least 8 million euros from the so-called Magnitski case. Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitski died in 2009 after revealing massive tax fraud that was partly the work of Russian police officers and tax officials. Magnitski worked for Bill Browder, who pressed charges against the Dutch banks and businesses last year. Browder has been working for years to get international legislation in place against the Russian instigators of corruption and fraud.
Browder pressed charges against ING, ABN Amro, Rabobank and dozens of companies, mainly exporters of vegetables, fruit and flowers, according to Zembla and NRC. They supplied products to Russian customers and received payments in Dutch bank accounts. The exporters themselves were not aware of the fraud.
Dutch banks are legally obliged to detect and report suspicious transactions. If they fail to do so, they could face criminal prosecution. Some Dutch banks are too lax in this duty, as evidenced by ING and Rabobank paying millions of euros to prevent prosecution in other money laundering cases.