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Commerzbank execs face money laundering charge

Frankfurt prosecutors have filed charges against five men – four of whom are current or former Commerzbank executives – for their involvement in an alleged money laundering case with Russian connections more than a decade ago.

Published: 15 December 2011 11:56 CET

Commerzbank execs face money laundering charge

Photo: DPA

The authorities charge that the five, including a Danish lawyer, helped former Russian Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman to funnel at least $150 million (€113 million) in dirty money through Bermuda and Europe to Russia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, prosecutors believe Reiman held communications assets in offshore accounts and then sold them while trying to obscure their real owner.

The Journal reported that Reiman may have converted Russian state assets to foreign companies that he controlled. The prosecutors said the accused, aged between 48 and 61-years-old committed their crimes between 1995 and 2008, the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reported.

Reiman is said to be a personal friend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. But he has been accused of wrongdoing before, including an accusation that he accepted a $1 million bribe in 1992. Prosecutors said a criminal investigation in the money laundering case remains ongoing against him.

Commerzbank did not immediately respond to the allegations or say whether any of the employees being charged are still employed.

The Local/mdm

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German police swoop on gang of foreign dating scammers

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said in a statement.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, police said.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said.

The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”.

Black Axe operated under the cover of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, an ostensibly charitable organisation used as “camouflage” for the gang’s structures.

The action against Black Axe was the first of its kind in Germany, police said.

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