Four bankers will stand trial in Zurich next week accused of helping a man known as “Vladimir Putin’s wallet” to deposit millions of Swiss francs in Switzerland.
The defendants are accused of having “failed to exercise due diligence to ascertain the identity of the beneficial owner” of the funds, according to the indictment seen by Reuters.The men, who were senior executives at the bank, which is currently shuttering its Swiss operations, cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions. Their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Two accounts were opened at Gazprombank in 2014, according to the indictment, with the beneficial owner identified as Sergei Roldugin, a close confidant and friend of the Russian president., an investigation published by the Guardian in collaboration with other media, including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington and the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
“At the time of the opening of the account it was reported … that Sergei Roldugin was a close friend of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and godfather of his daughter,” it added.