The Ministry of Internal Affairs answered publications on the withdrawal of money from the Russian Federation through British banks

The Ministry of Internal Affairs called the British banks "quiet harbor" for criminal capital. Thus, the department commented on the reports of The Guardian about the participation of British banks in the "Moldavian scheme" of money laundering.

“The financial and credit system of Great Britain is a“ quiet harbor ”for criminal capital, we have been talking for many years. This (media reports) evidence that there is progress, we constantly paid the attention of our Western partners both to the UK and France. So, after all, there is a movement, ”RIA Novosti cites the words of the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Igor Zubov.

On March 21, Guardian reported that banks such as HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Barclays and Coutts participated in the Moldavian scheme. According to the publication, in general, 17 banks withdrew $ 749 million from Russia. Most of the operations passed through HSBC ($ 545.3 million).

According to the documents studied by Guardian, from 2010 to 2014, at least $ 20 billion deduced from Russia. In fact, the amount can reach $ 80 billion, journalists say.

The SueDdeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which also participated in the investigation, wrote that German banks also participated in the laundering of Russian money. According to the publication, $ 66.5 million was withdrawn from Russia through 27 banks. Including transactions passed through Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank.

As the New Gazeta said on March 20, the main beneficiaries of laundering under the “Moldavian scheme” were the owner of Russian Railways contractors, Alexei Krapivin, co-owner of the Marvel IT Holding Sergey Girdin and the owner of the Lanit group Georgy Gene. The organization of the scheme, according to the Moldovan authorities, is the FSB of Russia , Reuters reported.

The meaning of the “Moldavian scheme” is that Russian companies received loans through foreign firms and then did not pay them. Moldovan citizens were guarantors for loans, so the creditors appealed to Moldovan courts. As a result, money was withdrawn from Russia under the guise of execution of court decisions and transferred to the accounts of offshore firms.