Russia's economic security department has uncovered a criminal group containing several high-ranking Russian bankers suspected of illegally laundering more than $65 million a month, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
"It was discovered that the criminal group was cashing more than $2 billion rubles ($65 million) a month. The group was charging commercial organizations a fee of 3-9 percent and state institutions 12-17 percent for its services," the department said in a statement.
According to the report, the suspected criminal group includes an adviser to the CEO of Tempbank, the head of the Imperia bank's client administration department, as well as representatives from several other Russian banks.
The economic security department has searched the offices of the banks involved as well as the suspects' apartments.
Financial documents, more than 120 company stamps and other evidence of illegal banking activities were seized during the searches, the department said.
$100,000 has been seized from a car belonging to one of the suspects, and the bank accounts of seven commercial organizations, containing around 21 million rubles ($681,000) in total, have been confiscated, the statement said.
MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti)
