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Report: Austria opts to forgo investigating Troika Laundromat dealings

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Report: Austria opts to forgo investigating Troika Laundromat dealings

Austrian prosecutors found no reason to officially investigate the offshore network of Troika Dialog, a Russian investment bank which was allegedly a key player in a money laundering scheme dubbed the Troika Laundromat, RBC reported Sept. 17.

The scheme, described in the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's March 4 report, allegedly helped launder billions through Europe between 2006 and 2013. Troika Dialog no longer exists. Its owner, Ruben Vardanyan, agreed to sell Troika to PAO Sberbank of Russia in 2011, after which it operated as Sberbank's investment unit Sberbank CIB. Sberbank later merged the unit with its corporate banking division, RBC noted.

Shortly after the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's report was published, Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. co-founder and Kremlin critic Bill Browder filed a complaint with the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office, asking to check local banks and investigate $967 million worth of dubious money flows. Over $600 million of that amount was allegedly sent to Raiffeisen Bank International AG from the accounts of collapsed Lithuanian lender AB Ukio bankas, which had participated in the Troika scheme, the report said.

The representatives of the Austrian Public Prosecutor's Office and RBI told RBC that no official investigation was launched into the matter due to insufficient evidence. An RBI spokesperson also noted that the lender carried out an internal investigation and confirmed the strength of its anti-money laundering systems.

A Hermitage Capital representative said that 16 countries had launched investigations into the same money laundering allegations and the company could not understand why Austria decided on the contrary, according to RBC.