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CRIME

France charges skier after death of British girl, 5

A French skier who killed a five-year-old British girl after ramming into her at a resort in the Alps over the weekend has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Published: 18 January 2022 15:17 CET
French Alps
(Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP)

The badly wounded girl died onboard a helicopter that was rushing her to hospital after the 40-year-old man slammed into her at full speed as she was taking part in a lesson organised by the French Ski School (EFS) in Flaine, northwest of Chamonix, on Saturday morning with four other children.

The girl had been on a skiing holiday with her parents who live in Geneva and own a holiday home in nearby Carroz, the local paper Le Dauphine reported.

The man, a volunteer firefighter, tried to give first aid to the girl immediately after the accident, the paper said. He was taken into custody on Monday.

The ski instructor who led the group of children in perfect weather conditions, and who was questioned as a witness, was not found to be at fault in any way, Le Dauphine said.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Bonneville said excessive speed was the cause of the accident.

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BANKING

Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Denmark’s largest bank has agreed to pay a multi-million sum to end legal pursuits in France linked to alleged money laundering in its Estonian subsidiary that resulted in heavy US penalties

Published: 18 September 2024 16:27 CEST
Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Danske Bank will pay €6.3million (47million kroner) to end French financial authorities’ investigation.

An independent auditor’s report published in 2018 alleged Danske Bank’s Estonian unit allegedly laundered some €200billion through 15,000 accounts from 2007 to 2015.

The payment was agreed on August 27th with France’s national financial crime prosecutors and validated by a court on Wednesday. The agreement does not involve any admission of guilt.

Danske last December pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a $2billion fine.

The bank last October set aside an amount roughly equal to its US fine in expectation of legal pursuits in several countries.

Probes are underway in Estonia, Denmark, and Britain.

France charged Danske in 2019 with organised money laundering, which it denied, saying it was unaware of its Estonian subsidiary’s activities.

Tracfin, the French finance ministry’s anti-money laundering unit, found suspect movements on two accounts linked to a Franco-Russian businesswoman who has since been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Danske’s counsel Niels Heering said his institution was “happy to reach this accord which for us is a way to close this chapter”, adding that “cracking down on financial fraud remains a priority” for the bank.

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