Sweden’s dirty money case has only begun: Browder

Bloomberg

Bill Browder, the co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, says the fallout of a money laundering saga involving the biggest mortgage bank in Sweden is “just starting.”
During a tour of the Nordic region this week, Browder said he won’t drop his accusations against Swedbank AB even after the Swedish prosecutor declined to take up his complaint, citing a statute of limitations.
The avenues Browder is pursuing include garnering support among members of Sweden’s parliament, he said.
The activist investor claims Swedbank handled some of the proceeds of Russian tax fraud tied to the death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Browder, who got Danish prosecutors to take on similar charges against Danske Bank A/S, is trying to persuade Swedish authorities to pursue his case despite losing an appeal earlier this month.
While Denmark has acted forcefully in response to the allegations against Danske, including bringing preliminary charges against a number of its former executives, Browder says that “the game is just starting in Sweden.”

LEGAL OPTIONS
In Stockholm, the financier made clear that he and Hermitage Capital Management are “not done in our advocacy of getting the Swedish authorities to open a criminal investigation” into Swedbank.
“We’ll continue to evaluate what the legal routes are, the administrative routes of changing this outcome.”
Sweden’s oldest bank and the largest financial presence in the Baltic region allegedly handled over $100 billion in potentially suspicious funds.
Swedish media have reported that the beneficiaries of Swedbank’s dealings included Paul Manafort, the disgraced former campaign chairman of Donald Trump, and depos-
ed former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych.
Swedbank is being investigated by regulators in Sweden, Estonia and the US, in connection with the allegations. It fired its chief executive officer, Birgitte Bonnesen, in March, while the chairman who’d supported her left less than a month later. The bank has lost about 30 percent of its market value this year, making it the worst-performing European
financial stock in the period.
Swedbank has repeatedly said it is cooperating with the relevant authorities and that it has reported any suspicious dealings to the police. Spok-eswoman Unni Jerndal said
that Swedbank is “continuously providing the information that the authorities are requesting.” She also referred to an ongoing internal investigation at the bank and said that updates will be provided in connection with quarterly reports.
Browder says he’s also ready to take his case to Swedish lawmakers. “I’m expecting a very robust and sort of sympathetic response from parliament on the lack of action by the law enforcement agencies in Sweden,” he said. Hermitage expects to “have more to report on that” in the autumn, he said. He adopted a similar approach
in Denmark.
“In the Swedbank case we’ve encountered something I wo-uld describe as extraordinary, which is that the Swedish authorities have refused to open an investigation in Sweden on the back of our complaint,” Browder said.