UK banks reportedly handled laundered Russian money

Some British banks reportedly handled $740 million in laundered money from Russia, The Guardian reported on Monday.

The British newspaper said the multi-billion dollar money-laundering scam involved over 500 people from Russia including oligarchs​ and criminals having links with the Russian government and its intelligence agency.

According to documents obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, at least $20 billion was moved out of Russia between 2010 and 2014 in a vast criminal operation called "The Global Laundromat."

Over that period, British banks including HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Barclays and Coutts reportedly handled over 1,900 transactions — out of 70,000 — worth nearly $740 million.

A further 373 operations are believed to have gone through US banks, for a total amount of $63 million.

Banks to face questions

"Barclays complies with the rules and regulations in all the jurisdictions in which it operates, and has systems and controls in place to mitigate the risk of the bank being used to facilitate financial crime," a spokesperson for the bank said.

HSBC responded to the allegations saying, "The bank has systems and processes in place to identify suspicious activity and report it to the appropriate government authorities.

RBS said they were "committed to combating financial crime and money laundering in line with our regulations, and have controls and safeguards in place to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate these risks."

According to The Guardian, while all major British banks will face questions over why they did not raise the alarm on suspicious money transfers, they only processed money that had already been laundered.

The newspaper reported, however, that American banks, including CitiBank and Bank of America, are the only ones that raise money-laundering concerns.

TRT World's Matthew Moore brings us more from London.