Former CEO will not be prosecuted for money laundering scandal at ING

The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has decided against prosecuting former ING CEO Ralph Hamers for his role in a money laundering scandal at the bank. Prosecutors concluded after an investigation that there is “insufficient legally convincing evidence” for a criminal case against the high-ranking banker for crimes that happened from within ING.

ING settled for 775 million euros with the OM in 2018 for lackluster money laundering controls. The OM decided not to prosecute Hamers, who was the CEO for ING at the time, but financial activist Pieter Lakeman said this was unjustified. The activist took the case to the court of appeal, which ruled at the end of 2020 that the OM did have to investigate and prosecute Hamers.

This investigation went on for years, and a large number of witnesses were questioned. It was clear from this that Hamers knew about the holes in ING’s anti-money laundering policies. There was a critical report from the internal audit department and an alarming email from the bank's head of legal affairs.

The ING board then decided to investigate the matter. Their analysis concluded in 2015 that everything was in order after all.

"Although it must be concluded in retrospect that the measures taken internally by ING at the time were insufficient, the Public Prosecution Service concludes that the investigation has not yielded sufficient evidence that would justify the personal criminal liability of Hamers," the statement said.

Hamers thinks that the decision made by the OM is “logical and correct.” The OM still needs to bring their conclusions to the court of appeal but Hamers said that he is confident that the court will support the OM’s stance.

Lakeman hopes that the court can still be convinced of his view of the case, he said. According to him, bank directors cannot go free if they have managed prohibited practices.

The OM also decided not to prosecute four former board members of ABN Amro for the shortcomings in combating money laundering at the financial group. The bank reached a 480 million euro settlement with the OM in that case.

Just as in Hamer's case, the OM found insufficient evidence to hold the former board members, including former CEOs Kees van Dijkhuizen and Gerrit Zalm, personally accountable for this.