Published 26 September 2021 at 08.59
Economics. After gaining access to the Encrochat material, the police called the major banks to answer questions about money laundering, and several people could then be arrested. But what the banks probably did not expect was that the detainees turned out to be decision-makers at the banks.
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Swedish banks are not late in referring to the Money Laundering Act when they want to terminate unprofitable customers, abolish cash or oppose competing technologies such as bitcoin. But when it comes to the purpose of the law – to counter money laundering – it looks different, according to the police.
When there is a lot of money involved, it is far from unusual for the bank's officials to instead help the gangs to carry out money laundering. This includes granting loans that the banks then have repaid with profits from crime.
– We have been able to see, when we have looked more closely at a number of cases where we cooperate with the banks, we have been able to discover a several cases, I would say almost regularly, that there were insiders in the banks, says Linda H Staaf, head of the Police's national intelligence service, to Swedish Radio.
It is the material from Encrochat that has shown how the big banks 'bank officials help the criminal gangs to launder money, according to Swedish Radio.
The banks' role is, according to the police, to enable loan arrangements and open up for using companies in criminal activities .
– They are enablers, says Linda H Staaf.
The police will now use the Money Laundering Act to bring about more cooperation from the banks, and obtain information about the payment flows that go to and from from criminals.
– The police intelligence service is in the picture of organized crime and which actors make money from criminal activities. Banks, in turn, see financial flows and patterns. By sharing more information with each other, we believe that the crimes should be easier to detect at an early stage, but also that we should to a greater extent prevent so that crimes can not be committed at all. In this way, we want to fight money laundering and terrorist financing and access organized crime, says Linda H Staaf in a press release.