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Daily: Russian oligarch Mikhail Abyzov served as Swedbank Estonia's major client for years

BC, Tallinn, 20.11.2019.Print version
Swedbank Estonia catered to Russian oligarch and former minister Mikhail Abyzov for years and over a relatively short period of time, Abyzov brought to the bank 70 offshore accounts with ties to the oligarch that received a total of 860 million US dollars, according to the daily Postimees information writes LETA/BNS.

Around 770 mln US dollars was moved out of the accounts in over 3,300 transactions. As a minister for the Russian government at the time, Abyzov was prohibited from doing business, while a Swedbank in-house report suggests the bank hid beneficial owners of high-risk nonresident clients (HRNR) from the Russian authorities and tax board.


Swedbank's clients include companies that lie at the heart of Abyzov's (who has now been arrested and stands suspected of large-scale fraud, money laundering and forming a criminal organization) criminal case in Russia, an investigation by Postimees, Swedish public broadcaster SVT, Novaya Gazeta and OCCRP shows.

Accounts of Abyzov's companies in Swedbank were managed by Estonian Aleksei Averson. The report commissioned by the bank found signs suggesting illegal activity in Averson's work and recommended Swedbank notify the authorities immediately. The report suggests Averson was found to be in possession of a PIN calculator used to make transfers for one of Abyzov's enterprises.


"Several employees [of Swedbank Estonia], including client managers and members of the high-risk clients admission committee and the management board decided to take on HRNR clients despite the fact they did not meet basic standards of the 'know your client' principle. A part of HRNR clients were protected from the Russian authorities, including the tax board," Norwegian money laundering expert Erling Grimstad wrote in the report commissioned by the bank's headquarters.

Grimstad added that "said employees agreed to hide beneficial owners when registering them with the bank that created the risk people subject to sanctions could not be identified." The report has led to a heated relationship between the Swedish prosecution and Swedbank as the bank refused to hand over the document in spring. Next, Swedbank did not allow investigators to question Grimstad, pointing to attorney-client privilege. The bank only agreed to Grimstad being questioned in September.


Everything points to Abyzov having had a person working for him at the bank. "A client manager was found to be in possession of a PIN calculator of one of Abyzov's companies. The same PIN calculator was used to make transfers from the account of a company owned or controlled by Abyzov," Grimstad's report reads.

In the world of banking, politicians and their family members are known as politically exposed persons (PEP). Banks are expected to keep an especially sharp eye on clients associated with PEPs to identify potentially corrupt transactions. Grimstad's report suggests Swedbank did not. "Swedbank Estonia offered and mediated services, including suspicious transfers and activities, to high-risk nonresident clients."


The Swedbank employee in possession of Abyzov's company's PIN calculator was Estonian Aleksei Averson. He was the client manager of several other noteworthy nonresident clients and their companies. Averson left the bank in early 2017 by which time all of Abyzov's accounts had been closed. He became the director of Anduril Enterprises Ltd. in Cyprus two months later. Grimstad's report and documents from the Cypriot business register tie Anduril to Abyzov.


Averson pops up in another Swedbank in-house report. "Discussing a transfer with a colleague, Averson said 'it is not the cleanest transaction'," the report reads. "In a separate discussion, Averson tells his colleague that a transfer received by an unidentifiable company was reported as for the purpose of gas transport services. It left [the same company's account] as a 'down payment for stationary goods.' Averson described the transfer as a fairy tale."


Postimees asked Averson, who lives in Viimsi, for an interview several times but was turned down. The former Swedbank employee agreed to answer in writing after being given access to documents that concern his person. Averson agreed to come to Postimees to read the documents but demanded not to be met by journalists.

The editorial desk's assistant gave him the documents in a closed envelope, with Averson allowed to read the documents on location and only take written notes. Averson later described the documents' contents as fiction. 


Averson did not answer individual questions in subsequent correspondence but only formulated a general comment, saying he doubts such reports even really exist. "I am absolutely convinced that the authors of these reports – whoever they are – have absolutely no proof to substantiate these allegations. They also lack knowledge or simply do not care about applicable laws and regulations [banking secrecy and duty of confidentiality]," Averson wrote in an email to Postimees.






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