EU-landen starten speuractie naar witwassen Russisch maffiageld via hun banken (en)

BRUSSELS - Financial sleuths from six EU countries are joining forces to see if millions of euros of stolen Russian mafia money was laundered through their banks.

The move comes after the European Commission introduced a request for a joint investigation at a meeting of the so-called Financial Intelligence Units platform (FIU.net) on 7 February.

FIU.net holds regular meetings of anti-corruption experts from EU interior ministries and operates a secure IT network helping them to exchange data.

Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were already looking into allegations that some of the €230 million euros embezzled by the "Klyuev group," an organised crime syndicate, from Russian tax authorities in 2007 was wired via Russian and Moldovan banks to companies in their jurisdictions.

Austria and Finland have also carried out probes.

Their prosecutors earlier said there is no evidence that crimes were committed on their territory.

But an EU commission source, who asked to remain anonymous, noted that they are taking part in the 7 February initiative. "There was no negative reaction from any member state … The FIUs are working on the case and there will be a follow-up meeting before the summer," the contact said.

The Kluyev investigation is a potentially explosive issue in EU-Russia relations.

The US last year imposed sanctions on Russian officials and gangsters said to have conspired in the death of a Russian accountant, Sergei Magnitsky, who exposed the tax scam, prompting outrage by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has so far ignored MEPs' calls to consider EU sanctions.

But her colleague, home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, has been raising the case informally at meetings of EU interior ministers, stirring wider interest.

For his part, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski on Thursday (21 February) called for "leadership from the top" to get to the bottom of the affair.

When asked by EUobserver at a briefing in the European Parliament if member states should take joint action on the money laundering probe, he said: "Clearly, it's a matter for international collaboration to purge corruption wherever it rears its ugly head. Corruption can only be rooted out when there is leadership from the top. So I believe in co-operation so that we oust the guilty parties and return the money, not just in this case but in all cases, to its rightful owners."

Sikorski spoke following his visit to Moldova earlier in the week.

Moldova's National Anti-Corruption Centre (NAC) in December also launched criminal proceedings into the case.

But there is a question mark on whether NAC chief Viorel Chetraru will do a proper job.

Chetraru himself has been exposed by Moldovan media as the owner of a luxury property worth up to €300,000 - well in excess of his salary - built on land seized by his agency in 2004.

He is also a personal friend of Gregory Gachkevich, the former head of Moldova's Banca De Economii, said to have wired the stolen money on his watch.

Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat recently launched a purge on high-level corruption despite the fact it threatens to destroy his coalition deal with the Democratic Party, many of who's people are at the centre of allegations.

He also wrote a letter to Chetraru telling him to take action on the Kluyev group after Chetraru sat on evidence for six months.

With Moldova in line to initial a political association pact with the EU in November, Poland's Radek Sikorski added on Thursday: "We regard the standards on fighting corruption as one of the strong indicators of whether a country wants to respect the spirit of association agreements and get closer to Europe."

Meanwhile, for Bill Browder - the CEO of Hermitage Capital, a UK-based hedge fund which used to employ Magnitsky - the EU's joint police and judicial bodies in The Hague, Europol and Eurojust, also have a role to play.

"Ultimately, the key to freezing the proceeds and prosecuting the criminals is by having international law enforcement co-operation through Europol, Eurojust and the FIU," he told this website.