Major bank shows photos of Putin and Lars Løkke in case of violation of money laundering rules for 26 billion kroner.
The major Nordic bank Nordea will tell judges in the Copenhagen City Court on Monday why they should acquit the bank for intentionally violating rules intended to prevent money laundering for several years. The prosecution claims that the bank committed criminal acts from 2012 to 2015. These involve transactions and businesses worth more than 26 billion kroner.
But there are a number of reasons why the court in the fall of 2026 should write ‘acquittal’ on the bottom line, is the message from one of the bank’s defenders, lawyer Jacob Skude Rasmussen:
“It is a universal truth that everything can always be done better, but that is not the same as Nordea having acted criminally.”
In its version of the case, the bank shows chronologies, diagrams and even photos of Vladimir Putin and Lars Løkke Rasmussen smiling at each other at a meeting in Copenhagen. It is part of a time travel, the explanation goes.
Over three court hearings, the bank has had the opportunity to clarify its position and respond to the prosecution’s introduction to the unusual case in May. Apparently, new arguments have been brought forward at the last minute. The two law professors Lasse Lund Madsen from Aarhus University and Rasmus Grønved Nielsen from the University of Copenhagen have drawn up a professional assessment – a so-called responsum – that expresses several concerns about convicting the bank. The professors’ assessment was only submitted to the court and the prosecutors on Friday.
A main theme for lawyer Jacob Skude Rasmussen is that the rules that the bank had to comply with were vague and unclear.
“It was a gigantic mud cake,” he says, adding that the bank received no real guidance about the obligations under the Money Laundering Act.
For example, what does it mean that a bank should have ‘necessary’ knowledge of its customers? And what was ‘sufficient’ monitoring?
Therefore, the case is largely about legal certainty, according to Nordea’s defenders.
“New duties and old duties are being mixed together in this case. We must ensure that the case is not judged by today’s stricter requirements, but based on the knowledge we had at the time,” says Jacob Skude Rasmussen.
And he also talks about the two legal judges and the three lay judges going on a journey in the time machine, where they have to try to understand the situation that the bank was in 10-13 years ago.
The indictment is mainly about the lack of investigations in relation to Eastern European customers. More than 24 billion kroner flowed through Nordea, whose controls failed, it is said.
“At that time, they wanted stronger trade with the Eastern Bloc,” says the lawyer.
The point is illustrated, among other things, with photos of then Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who welcomed Russian President Putin in Copenhagen in 2011.
The criminal case is expected to last for 70 court hearings, and the verdict will be delivered in the fall of 2026.
ritzau
