Four Cleared of €64 Million Laundering Charge
Harju County Court has cleared four men and a financial services company of laundering over 64 million euros and smaller amounts of other currencies.
The court found that the actions of the men were consistent in some respects with money laundering, but no offense was proven, uudised.err.ee reported today.
The Prosecutor's Office told uudised.err.ee that they will take the case to the next level, the Tallinn District Court.
The group allegedly enlisted frontmen who would open accounts in the names of various companies and hand over control of their accounts to the syndicate. The four men, it had been charged, then fabricated documents and receipts, forged information about the sources of money coming into company accounts, then provided financial services to the supposed owners.
The syndicate, according to prosecutors, hid the origin and names of the true owners of the money.
From May 2009 to April 2010, the group allegedly laundered a total of over 64 million euros, nearly 30,000 Latvian lats and 40,000 US dollars. The business supposedly bought them a profit of at least 200,000 euros, 116,500 dollars and 344 lats.
Äripäev reported the names of the four men to be Anton Ger, Sergei Kirillov, Sergei Golubajev and Andrus Koch. The financial services company involved in the case was reported to be Ateka Resource.