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Rothschild bank broke money laundering rules: Swiss watchdog

Swiss bank Rothschild and a subsidiary seriously breached money laundering rules in connection with the massive financial scandal that helped topple Malaysia's corruption-plagued former regime, Switzerland's financial watchdog said Friday.

Rothschild bank broke money laundering rules: Swiss watchdog
Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber (l) said on July 10 that Switzerland and Malaysia would cooperate in the money laundering investigation. Photo: AFP

Swiss market regulators FINMA also said it had now completed all seven probes into the sprawling scandal that allegedly saw Malaysia's multi-billion dollar state fund raided to buy everything from US real estate to artworks.

“Rothschild Bank AG and one of its subsidiaries have been found to be in serious breach of money laundering rules in the context of 1MDB,” a FINA statement said.

“They were in breach of due diligence, reporting and documentation requirements,” it added.

The watchdog found that Rothschild and a subsidiary failed to act on “early indications” that a significant client “could be involved in money laundering.”

Even though the origins of the clients assets were dubious, Rothschild charged ahead in fostering the relationship and even expanded it, before reporting the client to the Swiss money laundering office “after a substantial delay.”

“We note the comments made by the regulator and acknowledge and regret those instances where it has been identified that breaches occurred,” Rothschild said it statement emailed to AFP.

Meanwhile, FINMA said it had wrapped its work in probing wrongdoing in connection with 1MDB.

The regulators have slapped modest fines on several banks including Credit Suisse but noted that all the implicated banks have put in place measures to fix what went wrong.

FINMA said it will appoint an auditor to review those measures.

But Swiss criminal cases linked to 1MDB could still be in the pipeline.

Attorney general Michael Lauber has said his office is probing possible wrongdoing by six individuals and two banks, but noted that former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak (below) is not a target.

Razak has however been charged with corruption in Malaysia, where newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has promised to investigate the 1MDB scandal and take legal action against those involved in the fraud.

MONEY LAUNDERING

US files lawsuit against scandal-hit Danske Bank

The United States and a US pension fund have filed a claim in a Danish court seeking more than $1.6 million for lost investments following a money laundering scandal that engulfed Danske Bank, their lawyer confirmed.

US files lawsuit against scandal-hit Danske Bank
Photo: Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

“A lawsuit was filed in September against Danske Bank and its former CEO Thomas Borgen,” lawyer Thomas Donatzky said on Tuesday, adding that he could not provide any details.

The Danish financial daily Børsen, which first reported on the lawsuit, said the US government and pension fund were seeking 10 million kroner (1.3 million euros) due to losses suffered after shares in Danske Bank plunged in 2018 when the bank got caught up in huge money laundering schemes.

An investigation carried out by an outside law firm for the bank found that it could not account for the origin of more than $220 billion that flowed through its Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015, much of which was suspected to have come from Russia.

Borgen resigned in the wake of the scandal and the bank closed its operations in the Baltic States and Russia.

“The contingent liabilities related to civil shareholder claims and related amount described in today’s media coverage is part of the disclosure in our Annual Report for 2020,” Danske Bank said in a statement.

The report put the total of such claims at 12.4 billion kroner at the end of 2020. 

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