Filenews 28 December 2023 - by Fanis Makrides
A bombshell news implicating a Cypriot company in an investigation into €220 million laundering through a branch of French banking giant BNP Paribas was reported yesterday by the well-known newspaper of the Western European country Le Monde.
The news takes on dimensions if we consider that in addition to the fact that the role of Cyprus and a large financial institution is being investigated, suspicions arose when US federal investigators (FBI) put under their microscope the financial networks of the Wagner group. This is the mercenary army that was fighting in Ukraine, on the side of Russian forces. It was led by the controversial Yevgeny Prigozhin, who shortly after criticizing the Kremlin lost his life when his private jet crashed last August.
The company registered in Cyprus, as "F" found, has been registered with the Registrar of Companies in October 2013 (31/10/2013) and is active. Four Greek Cypriots participate in its corporate structure. Its secretary is presented as a legal entity, i.e. another service company.
It is also noteworthy that according to the Le Monde report signed by Anne Michel and Abdelhak El Idrissi, the investigation against the company is also confirmed by the Paris prosecutors.
The report, titled "BNP Paribas caught in a Cypriot money laundering investigation," notes that the "French bank managed investments worth several hundred million euros on behalf of a Cypriot company that is being investigated by French and American investigators."
The two journalists of the French newspaper explain that "it is a sensitive case, which involves judicial authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. French investigators opened a preliminary investigation in June into large-scale money laundering, as confirmed to Le Monde by the prosecutor's office in Paris. The investigation examines some suspicious financial flows that took place between 2019 and 2021 through the Cyprus-registered company. Until that time, this company had carried out investment transactions on behalf of its clients with BNP Paribas Securities Services, a branch of the French group BNP Paribas, acting as its banking partner.
The judicial process – overseen by the National Jurisdiction to Fight Organised Crime (JUNALCO), a specialised interregional department of the prosecutor's office as explained – has been delegated to the Finance Ministry's judicial investigations department, known as SEJF.
The statement from the Paris prosecutor's office follows: "Between 2019 and 2021, a few hundred million euros and dollars circulated cash through her bank accounts..... in France, which funds may have had a questionable origin while the flows were without clear economic logic." The authors of the report add that these amounts are estimated to correspond to more than €220 million. "Its clients are also at the heart of the investigations."
In addition, the French journalists report that the company "offers investment advisory services and manages funds internationally, while its clientele includes high-income companies and individuals. From January 2019 to January 2022, BNP Paribas Capital Market Services provided this Cyprus company with "custody services" – which include safeguarding shares and bonds on behalf of institutional clients in dedicated "cash or securities accounts". Together with other major international banks, BNP Paribas is one of the main providers of this type of service in the world."
The French investigators are trying to establish whether the Cyprus company fulfilled its due diligence obligations and more specifically whether it did the necessary research (KYC-Know Your Client) before making these money transfers.
Although the case arose when the United States was looking into networks working with Wagner and Prigozhin, French investigations have not shown any connection.
