Swedish authorities on Wednesday searched the Stockholm headquarters of Swedbank, the largest lender in the Baltic region, as part of a money laundering investigation.
The Swedish bank is accused of misleading US investigators over transactions made by its clients linked to Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, which is at the center of a global tax avoidance and money laundering scandal, according to Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
What we know so far
- Swedbank confirmed on Wednesday that its headquarters near Stockholm have been raided by Swedish authorities.
- The bank is under investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) for giving misleading information related to the Mossack Fonseca tax evasion and money laundering scandal.
- Sweden's Economic Crime Authority is also conducting an independent probe into whether the bank breached insider trading regulations by informing 15 of its biggest shareholders of the scandal before SVT's report on it last month.
- Swedbank said in a statement that "no individual or legal entity has been served suspicion of a crime."
Baltic money laundering: SVT reported last month that Swedbank customers had been able to funnel 40 billion kronor (€3.8 billion, $4.3 billion) between the Swedish bank and Danske Bank in Estonia.
dv/aw (AP, Reuters)
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