The scandal spread among the nordic banks

the Swedish and Danish banks have been established in the Baltic countries ever since the big privatiseringsvågen in the 90's. Several of them have long had a dominant position in the area, but in recent years it has begun to shake around them.

Danske Bank was forced late on Tuesday to close its branch in Estonia after the huge penningtvättskandalen as nystats up around the bank.

the Scandal surrounding the Danish Bank was rolled up when the Danish newspaper Berlingske together with journalistnätverket OCCRP revealed that the scale of money laundering had been going on in the bank. Hundreds of billions have passed through the bank apparently unnoticed and without any control of neither the transactions, recipient, or sender has been made.

to bring in criminally-earned money in the banking system in order to be able to be used without arousing suspicion. A way to do it is through the transactions and fictitious transactions in several areas to make it look like that the money ended up in the account in a legal way. This is where the Danske Bank in Estonia has turned a blind eye.

Much of the money that has been transmitted by Denmark's largest bank, according to allegations from a large skattekupp which was carried out by Russian government officials and criminal 2007. The same coup that the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky is believed to have been murdered for 2009 when he tried to reveal the people behind the massive embezzlement of taxpayers ' money.

Read more: Danske Bank skandalkonton still in operation

the Money from the skattekuppen runs like a red thread through the recent years bankskandaler. When Nordea in autumn, was accused of having helped to wash the equivalent of 1.5 billion, it was, inter alia, money from the Russian skattekuppen it was spoken about.

against Nordea was the british-american businessman Bill Browder. It was he who once hired Magnitsky to uncover the Russian skattebluffen and ever since the lawyer's death, has he followed the money.

When the Mission Review now points out Swedbank as a major baltic money laundering made connections to the Russian money again. 150 million from skattekuppen shall have been transmitted to a 50 Swedbankkonton, according to SVT. Bill Browder describes it as ”blood money” and suggests that it is only the tip of what will come up.

" this is just the beginning of the scandal, he says to DN.

with a large presence in the Baltic countries, SEB is. They have so far escaped similar accusations, but Browder does not exclude that also they are drawn in.

" I should not judge a bank I do not have knowledge of. But if three out of four nordic banks which have operated in Estonia dealing with money laundering, there is probably a need to look at the fourth as well, " said Bill Browder.

SEB has, since the issue has come to the fore with, among other things, Danske Bank looked at the betalflödena of their customers in the Baltic countries, according to the presschefen Frank Hojem.

– In the review we have not found any red flags or anything that suggests that we have been, " he says.

Read more: Danske Bank closes in Russia and the Baltic states

Read more: Mission Review: Swedbank led in suspected money laundering