By Elizabeth Hearst for AMLi
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Swedbank, Birgitte Bonnesen has gone on trial in Sweden, after she was charged with fraud in connection with the lender’s anti-money laundering framework in Estonia.
Ms Bonnesen, who served as CEO from 2016 to 2019, is accused of giving misleading information on several occasions with the intent to cover-up deficiencies in its AML protocols at its Estonian branch, reports Reuters.
However, Ms Bonnesen has denied all charges according to her lawyer Per Samuelsson. She risks facing up to six years in prison if found guilty.
The former CEO is alleged to have repeatedly spread “misleading information” about Swedbank’s links to the Baltics, emphasising that the lender did not have any money laundering issues at its Estonian branches.
In January, AML Intelligence reported that the Swedish Economic Crime Authority said the former CEO “intentionally or out of gross negligence” spread “misleading information about the bank’s measures to prevent, detect and report suspicions of money laundering in Swedbank’s operations in Estonia.”
Chief Prosecutor Thomas Langrot said the misleading information “gave the wrong impression that Swedbank did not have or had problems with the AML processes in the bank’s operations in Estonia during the years 2007 – 2018.”
Mr Langrot added this occurred “even though the former CEO had knowledge of undisclosed information about extensive and serious deficiencies in regarding the AML processes and also information about extensive suspicious transactions/customers based on a money laundering detective in an Estonian business”.
“The preliminary investigation also shows that there was a clear strategy from, among others, the CEO that the problems regarding the AML processes in the Estonian business would not come to market. Another word for this is that there is evidence of a cover-up”, said Mr Langrot.
He added that “as President and CEO of the bank, the defendant has intentionally disclosed inside information about the contents of an upcoming episode of the Television Programme Uppdrag Granskning”. He revealed that “the suspected crime took place at a meeting on February 18, 2019 and was attended by representatives of the largest shareholders in the bank”.
The lender acknowledged past shortcomings in its work to prevent money laundering and was fined a record 4BN Swedish Krona (€369M) by the Swedish financial watchdog.
Ahead of her trial, Ms Bonnesen declined to comment to reporters outside the court, while her lawyer and prosecutor were not available for comment, reports Reuters.
Both Swedbank and Danske Bank are still under criminal investigation by US authorities for their roles in multi-billion euro money laundering scandals in the Baltics. It’s believed Swedbank carried out €37 Billion of high-risk transactions between 2014 and 2019.
Share this on:
Follow us on:
We hope you enjoyed reading this article
If you would like unlimited access to AML Intelligence premium articles, newsletter delivered twice a week, access to our Global Bank Fines and Penalties database, free access to Boardroom Series events and much more, select one of our subscription options and become a subscriber!
