Credit Suisse is under investigation for alleged money laundering involving a criminal organisation and the illegal drug trade.
Swiss prosecutors are investigating alleged money laundering by a drug trafficking gang led by Bulgarian mafia boss Evelin Banev, imprisoned in 2013 for importing drugs from South America.
According to court rulings, the gang’s criminal activities were disguised by real estate investments and other financial activities, including in Switzerland. The proceeds of the drug trafficking had been sent by bank transfer or hidden in cars to Bulgaria. In addition, he is said to have been invested in ships and property in, among other places, in Montreux and Geneva.
According to the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office: “In addition to the 10 natural persons currently charged, the criminal proceedings in November 2013 were extended to Bank Credit Suisse AG on suspicion of deficiencies in the bank’s internal organisation in connection with qualified money laundering.”
In 2013 Banev was arrested in Bulgaria on charges related to organised crime and sentenced to 20 years in prison. During a subsequent appeal case, it was revealed that Swiss authorities had carried out a search of Credit Suisse’s offices in relation to accounts held there by Matey Boev, considered to be Banev’s right hand man.
Swiss investigators found statements of an account belonging to a company controlled by Boev and his wife, as well as other accounts directly linked to Evelin Banev.
According to Italian prosecutors, the financial flows between these accounts owned by “high-ranking traffickers” had no concrete justification and served only to launder funds.
More than 10 years after the beginning of the investigation and 6 years after its extension to Credit Suisse, the case remains ongoing. Credit Suisse and the individuals charged deny any criminal involvement.
