Swedbank wasn’t alone in its concerns about these companies. “It is not uncommon to use a network of companies, including shell companies and others with real operations, to engineer transactions that mix legitimate and illegitimate funds,” she said. Maíra Martini, who leads Transparency International’s anti-money laundering work, said anonymous companies are commonly used to move questionable money because it is so difficult to determine who owns them. Reporters identified 23 companies related to the mining group that moved close to $1.9 billion between 20 in large, round-dollar payments without a clear business purpose - hallmarks of what is known as “suspicious activity.” OCCRP established that all of them have been linked to the Solway group or its senior executives. Now, a data from these banks leaked to Swedish broadcaster SVT - analyzed as part of the Mining Secrets project led by Forbidden Stories - has identified hundreds of questionable payments that might have led Swedbank to drop Solway as a customer. Much of this flowed from Russia and Eastern Europe to shell companies, in one of the world’s largest-ever money laundering scandals. Investigators would later find that at least 200 billion euros were laundered through accounts in the Estonian branches of Swedbank and Denmark’s Danske Bank between 20. Swedbank dropped Solway at a time when huge sums of suspect money were flowing through its Baltic operations. It noted Solway had “declined the request to present correct ownership documentation” and so was “offboarded in 2011.” Most of the companies in the Solway group were identified as “holding/transaction entities,” some of which had carried out “questionable transactions,” said the memo, obtained by Eesti Ekspress. Among them was Solway Investment Group, a metals company that operates mines and smelting facilities around the world. On February 25, a memo was circulated to staff outlining measures that the bank had taken to deal with “high-risk” clients in previous years, including hundreds of customers whose accounts had been closed. News that their bank’s Estonia business may have been used to launder billions of dollars had broken a few days earlier, and they were scrambling to contain the fallout. It was early 2019 and executives at Swedbank were worried. Others transacted with companies that have been used in several Russian tax evasion and money laundering scandals.regulators during that period for millions of dollars’ worth of suspicious payments. Several of these companies were reported to U.S. Reporters identified hundreds of transactions worth almost $1.9 billion between 23 companies with links to Solway between 20 in leaked banking data.Swedbank Estonia dropped Solway as a customer in 2011 because shell companies related to the mining group had carried out suspicious transactions. Slightly further afield is Dumfries House, a country mansion boasting an unrivalled collection of Chippendale furniture which the Prince of Wales saved for the nation in 2007.Ī visit to the area would not be complete without paying tribute to Robert Burns, who spent his last years in Dumfries in a sandstone house now open to the public (by appointment only). Twitchers will enjoy the offerings of RSPB Mersehead and WWT Caerlaverock, while the artistic hub of Kirkcudbright is less than an hour away. Yet Cavens is also a natural base for exploring Dumfries and Galloway. With roe deer and red squirrels among the regular visitors to the gardens and the Solway Firth just a 30-minute walk from the house, there is no need to travel far to experience this beautiful corner of Scotland, dubbed the country’s best-kept secret. Alternative options include locally made granola and porridge, as well as the usual baked goods. Make sure to accompany your meal with one of the impressive selection of wines available – the list far exceeds what you’d expect for such a small establishment, and the 18th Century wine cellar itself is well worth a visit.Īfter a good night’s rest in one of the six large bedrooms, a full Scottish cooked breakfast, featuring haggis (naturally), is the star of the breakfast menu.
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