Gazprombank Switzerland managers to face trial in Zurich

Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin with then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visiting the St. Petersburg House of Music in 2009. Keystone / Dmitry Astakhov/sputnik / Kremli

Executives working for Gazprombank Switzerland, the financial arm of Russian gas exporter Gazprom, are due to go on trial in Zurich this month. They are accused of failing to exercise due diligence in their dealings with Sergei Roldugin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the indictment seen by the Tamedia press group on Tuesday, several senior staff members of Gazprombank Switzerland will go on trial in Zurich on March 8. The Zurich public prosecutor’s office has accused the head of Gazprombank Switzerland and three other employees of a lack of due diligence in financial transactions. The public prosecutor’s office is calling for the defendants to receive a seven-month suspended prison sentence. 

Gazprombank Switzerland is a financial subsidiary of the Russian commodities group Gazprom, which is majority controlled by the Russian state.

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The employees are accused of having maintained a business relationship with the Russian cellist and conductor Sergei Roldugin from 2014 to 2016. According to the indictment, they knew, or at least should have known, that it was impossible for this client to be the true beneficial owner of assets worth millions of Swiss francs.

Alleged millions

The bank registered Roldugin as the beneficial owner of accounts of two companies based in Panama and Cyprus. Millions of Swiss francs allegedly flowed through these accounts.

Last October, Gazprombank Switzerland announced it was winding down its operations. In 2016, the bank found itself in the crosshairs of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma).

According to media reports on the “Panama Papers”, the work of a network of journalists who uncovered tax avoidance and money laundering on an epic scale, the Swiss branch of Gazprombank was involved in illegal business with offshore companies. Sergei Roldugin and the bank were mentioned in these documents.

In 2018, Finma closed the “Panama Papers” proceedings against Gazprombank Switzerland and confirmed serious deficiencies in the bank’s anti-money laundering arrangements.