Swedbank criminal probe intensifies

Bloomberg

A criminal probe tied to money laundering allegations engulfing Swedbank AB drew sharp recriminations from both sides over the weekend, and raised serious questions about the role of the board.
After the prosecutor accused Sweden’s biggest mortgage bank of refusing to hand over key information, Swedbank’s lawyers responded with claims that investigators were ignoring the norms of Swedish law. Meanwhile, a report in Swedish media said the bank’s board was behind a decision to withhold documents from police.
Since last week, Swedbank’s dirty money scandal has exploded. The potentially suspicious amounts involved may now exceed $100 billion, while alleged beneficiaries include convicted felon and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, as well as deposed Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych.
Swedbank fired Chief Executive Officer Birgitte Bonnesen as allegations against the bank piled up. On top of a criminal probe, the lender is being investigated by the financial
supervisory authorities of Sweden and Estonia, as well as by authorities in the US, amid claims it was part of the $230 billion Danske Bank A/S Estonian scandal. Swedbank’s share price has plunged by roughly a third since the case first erupted on February 20.
Swedbank said it is using Nordia as its external legal counsel to handle a criminal investigation that focusses on potential fraud. The probe is tied to the broader laundering case and focuses on what appear to have been misleading statements from the bank.
Swedbank published a statement by Nordia, in which it
challenged the prosecutor’s assessment that the lender had hindered the investigation. Newspaper Dagens Industri had cited chief prosecutor Thomas Langrot as saying that the bank had obstructed a police raid by refusing to hand over some key information.
Nordia said that allegations by the prosecutor that Swedbank “has not cooperated during the search in the desired way, but to the contrary has hampered the search by not waiving the attorney client privilege and the confidentiality” is “completely incorrect and incomprehensible.” According to Nordia, “it was pointed out that information covered by attorney client privilege cannot be seized.” The law firm said that the prosecutor’s subsequent decision to seize the documents is “in direct conflict with Swedish law.”
Swedbank spokesman Gabriel Francke Rodau noted that an earlier statement from the bank said the decision not to hand over documents was made by “management.”