A series of allegedly illicit operations, conducted between 2003 and 2010, is at the center of the case involving a branch in Paris.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office noted that the “Judicial Public Interest Agreement” concluded last Tuesday with the Spanish bank Santander resulted in the termination of proceedings against the financial institution without an admission of guilt.
A judicial investigation was launched in February 2011 following a complaint filed by Santander itself, alleging a series of reportedly criminal acts at one of its branches in the French capital.
According to the Public Prosecutor, the police financial brigade responsible for the case uncovered the existence of “an illegal compensation system” operated through the deposit of checks in the names of legal entities into personal accounts of certain bank clients.
Further, cash was offered to clients outside any official banking system.
The total amount of flows through the bank accounts at the center of the dispute amounted to approximately 49 million euros from 2003 to 2010.
Investigators identified 22,000 potentially criminal transactions involving 74 Santander clients, primarily French citizens, who had not declared their accounts to French tax authorities.
Among other factors, this enabled beneficiaries to transfer professional income to Spain to potentially reduce taxes.
The judicial investigation referred to an alleged case of aggravated money laundering of various crimes, including tax fraud, misappropriation, bankruptcy, organized group fraud, illegal banking or financial activities, and illegal banking exercise, as well as complicity and receipt in all these crimes.
