At the entrance to a Petersburg Social Commercial Bank branch at the time of the FSB search of it
Photo: Nikita Infantyev
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Searches Made in Money Laundering Case in St. P'burg
Agents of the local department of the FSB in St. Petersburg searched and made seizures from the Petersburg Social Commercial Bank and in the offices and apartments of several clients of the bank in a criminal investigation of illegal banking activities and money laundering. More than 200 million rubles were frozen in the accounts of Petersburg Social Commercial Bank clients as well. The searches took from Monday morning to Tuesday morning to complete even though agents conducted several searches simultaneously. When agents rang at the door of the bank's office on Vosstanie Street, an employee of the bank tried to throw the stamps from 300 front companies out the window, but was unsuccessful.
The FSB investigation has been underway since June of this year and has centered around the futures exchange at 174 Ligovsky Prospekt, where hundreds of small traders, a portion of whom have criminal connections, operate. About 100 million rubles and $3 million have been seized in the case. The Northwest Investment Industrial Bank, St. Petersburg branch of the East Bridge Bank and Naval Trade Industrial Bank were searched in the case earlier. The investigation is continuing. Chairman of the board of Petersburg Social Commercial Bank Vladimir Pribytkin said that “the FSB was interested in information on the accounts of several of the clients of the bank… We provided all possible cooperation to the law enforcement agents and provided all the information on the banking operations of the suspects that was demanded within their authority.” He added that other clients' account information remains “strictly confidential.”
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All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 30, 2005
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