Estonia expands Danske money laundering probe to cover up to $2 billion of transfers

TALLINN (Reuters) – Estonian authorities have expanded their investigation into alleged money laundering through Danske Bank’s (CO:) local branch to cover transfers of up to $2 billion, the Estonian prosecutor said on Thursday.

“We are investigating more than 10 cases with a total amount of up to $2 billion,” said a spokeswoman for the prosecutor general.

The prosecutor said it was previously looking into suspect money flows worth $300 million relating to two separate cases.

Danske, Denmark’s biggest bank, admitted in 2018 that suspicious payments totaling 200 billion euros ($223 billion) from Russia and elsewhere flowed through its branch in Estonia, triggering worldwide probes.

Danske, which was thrown out of Estonia and has said it would also exit the other Baltic states and Russia, was not immediately available for comment.

In 2018, Estonian authorities apprehended 10 former employees of the local Danske branch on suspicions of having facilitated a flow of dirty money through the branch.

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