Lombard Odier indicted in Switzerland over money laundering

ZURICH (Reuters) -The Swiss Attorney General’s Office (OAG) said on Friday it had indicted private bank Lombard Odier and one of the firm’s former employees over aggravated money laundering, in a rare charge of such magnitude against one of the country’s oldest banks.

The bank and its former employee are suspected of having played a decisive role in enabling the concealment of the proceeds of a vehicle set up by Gulnara Karimova, a daughter of the late president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, the OAG said.

The OAG alleges Lombard Odier failed to comply with anti-money laundering standards and its own internal guidelines in opening and managing nine bank accounts under suspicion.

Lombard Odier, which dates back to 1796, said it noted “with dismay” the OAG’s decision to bring the charges.

“The allegations are unfounded and without merit and are firmly rejected by the bank,” it said in a statement.

Karimova, who was indicted by the Swiss OAG last year over alleged participation in a criminal organisation that operated in various countries, including Switzerland, could not immediately be reached for comment.

She has previously denied those allegations.

Karimova is currently in prison in Uzbekistan, after being jailed in 2019 for violating the terms of her house arrest and receiving a sentence in 2015 on charges of embezzlement and extortion. She was handed a further sentence in 2020.

She and another person are suspected of participating in a criminal organisation known as the “Office”, which operated in several countries, and of laundering proceeds in Switzerland, between 2005 and 2012, the OAG said.

Investigations have led the OAG to believe that part of the money laundered in Switzerland may have been transferred using bank accounts at Lombard Odier in Geneva, it said.

The former employee of the bank worked in Lombard Odier’s private clients’ department between 2008 and 2012, and is suspected of having opened or arranged for the opening of the nine bank accounts.

Earlier this week, Credit Suisse, which is now a part of UBS, was acquitted of failing to prevent money laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang, overturning a 2022 conviction.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Oliver Hirt; editing by Rachel More, Jason Neely and Daren Butler)