Four Swiss bankers to face trial for securing Putin's money in bank

Zurich: Four Swiss bankers have been charged for allegedly helping a Putin’s ally who is infamously known as his ‘wallet’ in depositing millions of swiss francs in the country. On March 8, the four men, who formerly worked for Gazprombank (GZPRI.MM), are scheduled to appear before Zurich District Court on charges of carelessness in financial dealings. According to the indictment obtained by Reuters, the defendants are charged with having “failed to exert due diligence to ascertain the name of the beneficial owner” of the funds. According to Swiss media, the case concerned roughly 50 million Swiss francs ($53 million). Under Swiss reporting restrictions, it is not possible to identify the men, who were top executives at the bank that is presently closing its Swiss operations. Their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for Gazprombank said he could not comment on an ongoing trial and referred to the presumption of innocence of the defendants. Two accounts were opened at Gazprombank in 2014, according to the indictment, with the beneficial owner identified as Sergey Roldugin, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The bankers did not carry out any checks to see if Roldugin, a cellist and conductor, was the beneficial owner of the assets, it added. “At the time of the opening of the account it was reported … that Sergey Roldugin was a close friend of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and godfather of his daughter,” the indictment said. The defendants made no attempt to clarify if Roldugin was the real beneficial owner of the assets or where the money came from, the court document said. In the bank’s documents, only Roldugin’s professional activity as a musician was listed, making his ownership and involvement “in no way plausible”, the court documents said. In Switzerland, banks are obliged to reject or terminate business relationships if there are initial doubts about the identity of the contracting party. Both accounts were closed in September 2016. Roldugin has already been targeted by U.S. sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has also been sanctioned in Switzerland, whose government referred to him as “Putin’s wallet” in its list of blocked people. The prosecutor is seeking suspended sentences of seven months for each of the bankers. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.