Swiss court upholds ‘Putin’s bankers’ Gazprom conviction

A Zurich court upheld on Tuesday a judgment against four bankers convicted last year of failing to perform due diligence in financial transactions after helping a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin move millions of francs through Swiss bank accounts. Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here. The four former employees of the Swiss unit of Russia’s Gazprombank had asked Zurich’s high court to overturn a conviction at a lower court last year. The three Russians and a Swiss citizen helped Sergey Roldugin, a concert cellist who has been dubbed ‘Putin’s wallet’ by the Swiss government and is godfather to Putin’s eldest daughter, deposit millions of francs in Swiss accounts between 2014 and 2016. The bankers, who cannot be identified under Swiss reporting restrictions, were found guilty by Zurich’s District Court in March 2023 and given suspended fines totalling more than CHF450,000 ($504,000). The prosecution had alleged the men failed to do enough to determine ...