$13bn laundered through Estonia

TALLINN/COPENHAGEN: More than $13 billion were laundered through banks in the small Baltic state of Estonia from 2012-2016, with at least 7.3 billion euros in assets through non-resident bank accounts, police said on Friday.

The European Union member country has been rocked by revelations of money laundering from Russia, Moldova and Azerbaijan via non-resident bank accounts that have forced lenders in Estonia and neighbouring Latvia to shut down.

Estonia’s police Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) said that besides more than $6 billion laundered via Estonian banks in schemes discovered by national financial inspection agencies, a further unreported 7.3 billion euros was channelled via Estonian banks through the sale of Russian stocks and bonds.

The report said that Russian authorities had acted to curb transfers of funds abroad, Russian assets instead were transferred to non-resident accounts in Estonian banks for them to be liquidated through the Estonian financial system.

"In 2012, more than 7.3 billion euros in securities from Russia were processed through the Estonian financial system. The proceeds were transferred to dozens of jurisdictions and thousands of companies for various goods and services," the FIU said in its annual report.

In that year, Estonia’s economy itself was worth just 17.9 billion euros. Estonian police also warned that more attempts to launder funds could be expected with further Russian bank closures likely this year.