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DANSKE BANK

Danske Bank sets aside nearly €2 billion for expected fines

Danske Bank, which is under investigation by Danish and US authorities, said Thursday it had set aside an additional 14 billion kroner (1.9 billion euros) to cover expected fines related to massive suspected money laundering via its Estonian branch.

Danske Bank sets aside nearly €2 billion for expected fines
Bicycles outside a Danske Bank branch in Copenhagen. File photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

“The discussions with US and Danish authorities related to the Estonia matter are now at a stage where Danske Bank can reliably estimate the total financial impact of a potential coordinated resolution amounting to a total of DKK 15.5 billion” or $2.1 billion, the bank’s chief executive Carsten Egeriis said in a statement.

“Our dialogue with the authorities is ongoing, and while there is still uncertainty that a resolution will be reached, we hope that a resolution will be concluded before the end of this year,” he added.

The bank had already set aside 1.5 billion kroner in 2018 when the scandal first emerged.

An investigation carried out by an outside law firm for the bank found that it could not account for the origin of more than $220 billion that flowed through its Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015, much of which was suspected to have come from Russia.

Danske Bank’s shares soared more than 10 percent after the announcement, the first time it has provided any estimate of the fines it may face.

Copenhagen City Court is meanwhile currently hearing a money laundering case related to the bank’s disgraced branch in Estonian capital Tallinn.

In the case, a Danish-Russian woman is accused of laundering over 29 billion kroner through the bank in cooperation with a Lithuanian national, by using shell companies in Copenhagen.

The now-closed Tallinn Danske Bank branch was at the centre of the major money laundering scandal in 2018.

READ ALSO: Danish court jails woman in 4 billion euro money laundering case

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CRIME

Five residents at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård expulsion centre convicted in drugs case

Five residents of Denmark’s Kærshovedgård Departure Centre have been convicted on serious drugs charges.

Five residents at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård expulsion centre convicted in drugs case

Four men and one woman resident from Kærshovedgård were found guilty in a major drugs case at Herning District Court on Thursday.

The men were each sentenced to eight years in prison, while the woman received a five-year sentence, regional media TV Midtvest reported.

Court proceedings in the extensive case have been ongoing since January, with more court days required than initially planned.

Police used wiretaps and other methods to gather evidence in the case, according to TV Midtvest.

Central and West Jutland Police announced last summer that more than half a million kroner in cash had been seized during the arrests.

Located 13 kilometres from Ikast in Jutland, the Kærshovedgård facility is one of two deportation centres in Denmark used to house rejected male and female asylum seekers who have not agreed to voluntary return, as well as persons with so-called ‘tolerated stay’ (tålt ophold) status.

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The residents do not have permission to reside in Denmark but many cannot be forcibly deported because Denmark has no diplomatic relations or return agreements with their home countries.

Kærshovedgård houses people who have not committed crimes but have no legal right to stay in Denmark, for example due to a rejected asylum claim; as well as foreign nationals with criminal records who have served their sentences but are awaiting deportation.

It first became prominent in the mid-2010s, when it received criticism for imposing conditions that could lead to mental illnesses in residents.

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