Aug 25, 2010 7:17 PM

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-25/russian-police-bust-money-laundering-ring-run-by-managers-at-moscow-banks.html

Business Exchange Twitter Delicious Digg Facebook LinkedIn Newsvine Propeller Yahoo! Buzz Print Russian police detained an adviser and manager at two Moscow banks suspected of laundering more than 2 billion rubles ($65 million) a month, according to the Interior Ministry’s Economic Security Department.

The “organized group” charged companies a commission of 3 percent to 9 percent and state entities 12 percent to 17 percent to launder funds, the department said on its website today. Albert Istomin, a department spokesman, declined to say how long the group had been active.

Investigators raided the offices of three banks -- OOO Bank Imperia, OAO Tempbank and Basmanny -- and seized financial documents, 120 registration stamps from shell companies and “electronic keys” to a bank account-management system, the department said.

The ringleaders were an adviser to the chairman of Tempbank and the head of client services at Imperia and her daughter, according to the department. Investigators seized $100,000 found in a car belonging to one of the suspects.

Mikhail Gagloyev, chairman of Tempbank, said today that the bank was searched on Aug. 16, though “no documents (stamps, financial documents, cash) that could compromise OAO Tempbank were discovered.”

‘No Relation’

The suspects mentioned in media reports on the money- laundering ring aren’t Tempbank employees “and have no relation to the bank,” Gagloyev said in a statement on the bank’s website.

Ivan Kuleshov, chairman of Imperia, said the woman identified as a client-services manager by the Interior Ministry hadn’t worked in that capacity. She had worked at the bank on a trial period for less than a month, Kuleshov said on the bank’s website today.

The seizure of stamps, money and bank account-management access keys “have no relation to Imperia,” Kuleshov said.

No one was immediately available to comment at Basmanny.