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Estonian parliament to investigate Danske Bank money laundering scandal

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Estonian parliament to investigate Danske Bank money laundering scandal
File photo: Mads Joakim Rimer Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The Estonian parliament is to discuss suspected money laundering activity at Denmark’s Danske Bank.

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The issue will be on the agenda at an extraordinary meeting at the parliament in Tallinn in Tuesday, Ritzau reports.

A parliamentary justice committee has already summoned to the meeting a number of officials including Estonia’s justice minister Urmas Reinsalu, the head of the country’s financial regulator Kilvar Kessler and state prosecutor Lavly Perling.

“The Legal Committee wants to get more clarity on how it could have been possible to launder Russian criminal money in that way in an Estonian operating branch, [of Danske Bank, ed.],” committee chair Jaanus Karilaid told Reuters via email.

Karilaid added that the committee sought to find out who was responsible for what he termed a “scam” and how such cases could be avoided in the future.

He did not elaborate on what measures the parliamentary committee could take.

Danske Bank did not immediately comment on the developments at the Estonian parliament.

“But we do have a good and constructive dialogue with the authorities about the case, and if there are any questions that the authorities or politicians want further clarification on, we are available,” the bank’s lead press officer Kenni Leth said.

The news comes after businessman William Browder earlier this month reported Danske Bank to authorities in both Denmark and Estonia.

Browder is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, which owns the Hermitage Fund, an activist fund that aims to expose corporate corruption.

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