The scandal surrounding alleged money laundering through the Estonian branch of Denmark’s largest lender, Danske Bank, is escalating into one of the biggest such cases in Europe. As the Financial Times has disclosed, an independent investigation found that as much as $30bn of Russian and ex-Soviet money flowed through the Estonian arm in a single year, 2013 — an eye-popping volume for a small branch operation. It suggests serious gaps in the bank’s safeguards, and in Europe’s efforts to combat money-laundering.
The $30bn figure, it must be noted, represents total money flows from countries such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, not transactions that appeared suspicious. But a Danish newspaper in July alleged $8.3bn of suspicious money— more than twice previous estimates…
