Trial on behalf of Putin friend with multimillion-dollar assets in Zurich Ned Price resigns as US State Department spokesman

The former head of Gazprombank Schweiz AG (GPBS), based in Zurich, and three employees must answer to the Zurich court since Wednesday. They are accused of lack of due diligence in financial transactions. The indictment suggests that the money may have belonged to Putin himself. The four defendants have denied the allegations.

The Russian president, with an official income of only about $100,000 a year, is known to still have large assets managed by people close to him, the indictment said. It concerns about 50 million francs and bills in the period 2014 to 2016.

Bank was previously targeted by the financial market regulator

It should have been clear to the bankers that the alleged “ultimate owner”, the cellist and conductor Sergei Roldugin, was a stooge, the OM continues. It was known that Roldugin was a friend of Putin and godfather of his daughter.

The bankers should have made inquiries to verify that the money actually belonged to Roldugin. This was not plausible given his financial circumstances, which were also publicly known at the time.

The GPBS announced last October that it would cease operations in Switzerland. The institute had previously undergone a strategy analysis. In 2020, the bank reported a balance sheet total of CHF 1.8 billion. However, in 2018, she was reprimanded by the FINMA for serious flaws in the money laundering mechanism. (dpa/aargauerzeitung.ch)

update follows…