Is BNP Paribas, via its Securities Services branch, linked to suspicious financial flows? The money laundering investigation opened in Paris after the report by Tracfin concerning a Cypriot company will have to determine this in particular.
Confirming information from the Worldthe Paris public prosecutor’s office indicated that it had entrusted the Judicial Financial Investigation Service (SEJF) with an investigation into suspicious flows from the Cypriot financial services company TCR International Limited.
According to a source close to the matter, the company BNP Paribas Securities Services appears as a banking partner of TCR International Limited. The investigations will have to verify that the various companies of the French bank BNP Paribas have respected their duty of vigilance.
No link at this stage with Wagner
“Over the period from 2019 to 2021, several hundred million euros and dollars would have circulated in its cash accounts in France, corresponding to funds of possibly dubious origin and/or flows without explicit economic logic” , we specified from the same source.
According to Le Monde, behind certain suspicious operations there are Russian and Ukrainian clients. According to a source close to the matter, at this stage, the French investigation does not, however, establish a link with the Russian paramilitary group Wagner nor with its founder and former leader Yevgeny Prigojine, who died in August.
10 years of imprisonment
The current preliminary investigation targets the offenses of money laundering aggravated by the habitual nature of assisting in placement, concealment or conversion of the proceeds of a crime, carrying a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and 750,000 euros in fines. fine or half the value of the laundered property.
“BNP Paribas is committed to meeting its regulatory obligations. The group has adopted and maintains a global compliance system based on a risk-based approach designed to comply with laws, rules and regulations relating to the fight against money laundering, corruption and the financing of terrorism,” said BNP. Paribas, specifying that it cannot comment on the investigation “in view of the obligations to which it is bound”.
“Substantial resources and a significant number of employees are dedicated to this purpose, particularly within the compliance function,” added BNP Paribas. The bank terminated the securities custody agreement with TCR International Limited in January 2022.