BRUSSELS/BREGANA BORDER CROSSING BETWEEN CROATIA AND SLOVENIA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Croatia got the green light on Thursday to join Europe’s open travel zone, but Bulgaria and Romania were kept out because of opposition led by Austria over concerns about unauthorised immigration.
From 2023, people will not have to stop for border checks as they pass between Croatia and the rest of the so-called Schengen area – the world’s largest free-travel area seen as one of the main achievements of European integration.
It will “shorten the journey and the wait, thank God,” driver Nenad Benic said as he queued to cross the Bregana border point from Croatia into Slovenia on Thursday.
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said he was disappointed and would apply to enter the zone again. “We regret and honestly do not understand the inflexible position taken by Austria,” he said.
Bulgaria would also try again, its foreign minister said.
Croatia got the go-ahead to become the zone’s 27th member after tense talks between the bloc’s interior ministers in Brussels.
“To the citizens of Croatia: welcome, congratulations!,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, said.
“To the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria – you deserve to be full members of Schengen, to have access to the free movement… I share the disappointment with the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania.”
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he had opposed Romania and Bulgaria because of security concerns.
“It is wrong that a system that does not work properly in many places would get expanded at this point,” he said.
Austria, he added, had recorded 100,000 illegal border crossings so far this year, including 75,000 people who had not been previously registered in other Schengen countries as they should have been.
Accession needs unanimous backing from all members – 22 EU nations as well as Lichtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
The Netherlands also opposed granting access to Bulgaria, citing concerns over corruption and migration.
Immigration has been a hot button issue in Europe since 2015 when more than a million people arrived across the Mediterranean Sea, mostly on smugglers’ boats, prompting the EU to tighten its borders and asylum laws.
U.N. data shows some 145,000 people have made the sea crossing this year while more than 1,800 perished trying to reach Europe’s shores, numbers way lower than in 2015.
But the EU’s border police Frontex said last month that 281,000 irregular entries had been recorded throughout the bloc in the first 10 months of 2022, up 77% from a year before and the highest since 2016.
With the Western Balkans route currently the most active, and the EU welcoming several million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war, worries about immigration have returned to the fore.
Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, additional reporting by Bart Meijer and Clement Rossignol, Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Crispian Balmer and Andrew Heavens
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WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) – A deadly explosion occurred in NATO member Poland’s territory near its border with Ukraine on Tuesday, and the United States and its allies said they were investigating unconfirmed reports the blast had been caused by stray Russian missiles.
The explosion, which firefighters said killed two people, raised concerns of Russia’s war in Ukraine becoming a wider conflict. Polish authorities said it was caused by a Russian-made rocket, but Russia’s defense ministry denied involvement.
If it is determined that Moscow was to blame for the blast, it could trigger NATO’s principle of collective defense known as Article 5, in which an attack on one of the Western alliance’s members is deemed an attack on all, starting deliberations on a potential military response.
As a possible prelude to such a decision, however, Poland has first requested a NATO meeting on Wednesday under the treaty’s Article 4, European diplomats said. That is a call for consultations among the allies in the face of a security threat, allowing for more time to determine what steps to take.
The following is an explanation of Article 5 and what might occur if it is activated:
WHAT IS ARTICLE 5?
Article 5 is the cornerstone of the founding treaty of NATO, which was created in 1949 with the U.S. military as its powerful mainstay essentially to counter the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc satellites during the Cold War.
The charter stipulates that “the Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”
“They agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area,” it says.
AND WHAT IS ARTICLE 4?
Article 4 states that NATO members “will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”
Within hours of the blast in Poland on Tuesday, two European diplomats said that Poland requested a NATO meeting under Article 4 for consultations.
[1/4] Zuzana 155 mm gun howitzer of NATO Enhanced Forward Presence battle group takes position before live fire exercise, during Iron Spear 2022 military drill in Adazi, Latvia November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
HOW COULD THE UKRAINE WAR TRIGGER ARTICLE 5?
Since Ukraine is not part of NATO, Russia’s invasion in February did not trigger Article 5, though the United States and other member states rushed to provide military and diplomatic assistance to Kyiv.
However, experts have long warned of the potential for a spillover to neighboring countries on NATO’s eastern flank that could force the alliance to respond militarily.
Such action by Russia, either intentional or accidental, has raised the risk of widening the war by drawing other countries directly into the conflict.
IS INVOKING ARTICLE 5 AUTOMATIC?
No. Following an attack on a member state, the others come together to determine whether they agree to regard it as an Article 5 situation.
There is no time limit on how long such consultations could take, and experts say the language is flexible enough to allow each member to decide how far to go in responding to armed aggression against another.
HAS ARTICLE 5 BEEN INVOKED BEFORE?
Yes. Article 5 has been activated once before – on behalf of the United States, in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked-plane attacks on New York and Washington.
WHAT HAS BIDEN SAID ABOUT ARTICLE 5 COMMITMENTS?
While insisting that the United States has no interest in going to war against Russia, President Joe Biden has said from the start of Moscow’s invasion that Washington would meet its Article 5 commitments to defend NATO partners.
“America’s fully prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory. Every single inch,” Biden said at the White House in September.
He had declared earlier that there was “no doubt” that his administration would uphold Article 5.
Reporting by Matt Spetalnick;
Editing by Kieran Murray, Grant McCool and Bradley Perrett
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SOFIA, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s GERB party of ex-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov looked set for a narrow win in Sunday’s election, the fourth in less two years, as voters sought predictability from a former leader amid steep inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Exit polls by Gallup International and Alpha Research showed the centre-right GERB with 23.6%-25.5% of ballots. Its main rival, the reformist We Continue the Change of Kiril Petkov, whose cabinet collapsed in June, was next with 19.5%-19.9%.
If confirmed, the result would herald tough coalition talks ahead that could still end in a hung parliament or even another election.
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Either would prolong policy instability and raise the prospect of Sofia missing its 2024 target date for entry into the euro zone.
Many of Borissov’s political adversaries accuse him of allowing widespread corruption to fester during his decade-long rule that ended last year, complicating efforts to put together a functioning majority.
But for some voters in the European Union’s poorest member state, Borissov spells a promise of stability and diplomatic maturity needed to navigate Bulgaria’s complex relationship with Russia.
Once Moscow’s key ally in the EU, Sofia has turned away following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, becoming the first EU member alongside Poland, an anti-Russian hawk, to see its gas supplies cut off by Gazprom.
During the campaign, Borissov appeared to thread carefully, saying he would toe the EU and NATO line on Russia policy but has also sent a signal to the pro-Russian electorate that he would be able to restore relations once the war ends.
“There is a war in the world… It is important for the country to stay on its Euro-Atlantic course,” he said after casting his ballot.
Petkov, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate, who refuses to govern with Borissov, said on Sunday Bulgarians were choosing between the politics of the transition period that was marred by endemic graft and a more transparent Bulgaria that would be a reliable EU member.
Analysts say political parties, aware of economic risks from the war in Ukraine, a difficult winter ahead and voters’ frustration with political instability, could shelve their differences and opt for a technocrat government.
“Many Bulgarians expect that compromises will be made and want to see a government. It will not be easy, but that is what the politicians are for,” Boryana Dimitrova, with pollster Alpha Research, said after exit polls were released.
Up to six other groups were expected to enter parliament, including the ethnic Turkish MRF party, the Socialists and the pro-Russian, nationalist Revival.
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Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova
Editing by Nick Macfie, Gareth Jones, Justyna Pawlak and Frances Kerry
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SKOPJE, July 16 (Reuters) – Lawmakers in North Macedonia on Saturday passed a French-brokered deal aimed at settling a dispute with Bulgaria and clearing the way to long-due European Union membership talks.
With 68 votes, the 120-seat parliament voted in favour of the agreement. Opposition lawmakers did not participate in the vote and left the room.
“Today we are opening a new perspective for our country…from today we are moving with accelerated steps to join the EU family,” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said in a press conference after his cabinet approved parliament’s conclusions.Kovacevski said the first meeting between his government and the EU would be held on Tuesday.
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The deal proposes that North Macedonia’s constitution be amended to recognise a Bulgarian minority. The proposal does not require Bulgaria to recognise the Macedonian language.
In exchange, Bulgaria will allow its West Balkan neighbour to start membership talks with the EU.After the agreement was adopted, governing party deputies rolled out EU and North Macedonian flags.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who travelled to Skopje and urged lawmakers on Thursday to vote the deal, said the vote “paves the way for opening the accession negotiations rapidly.”
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose country has been held back because the EU has linked its progress to that of North Macedonia, said an Albanian delegation would travel to Brussels on Monday to start membership talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the vote, saying Washington recognised “the difficult tradeoffs considered in this compromise, which acknowledges and respects North Macedonia’s cultural identity and the Macedonian language.”
The leader of the biggest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski, whose party protested against the deal since the beginning of July, said “nothing was over”. He added his party would not back constitutional changes which require two-thirds of the vote.Bulgaria’s parliament lifted its veto on Macedonian-EU talks last month. This also triggered protests in Bulgaria and contributed to a no-confidence vote that toppled the government.
North Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic, has been a candidate for EU membership for 17 years but approval for talks was first blocked by Greece and then by Bulgaria.
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Reporting by Fatos Bytyci and Ognen Teofilovski; Editing by Christina Fincher
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Credit Suisse first major Swiss bank to face criminal trial
Former banker found guilty of qualified money laundering
Bank plans to appeal
BELLINZONA, Switzerland, June 27 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) was convicted by Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court on Monday of failing to prevent money-laundering by a Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang in the country’s first criminal trial of one of its major banks. read more
A former employee was found guilty of money-laundering in the trial, which included testimony on murders and cash stuffed into suitcases and is seen as a test case for prosecutors taking a tougher line against the country’s banks.
The ruling marks another headache for Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, which has been reeling from billions in losses racked up via risk-management and compliance blunders.
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Federal prosecutor Alice de Chambrier welcomed the verdict as “good for transparency”.
Both Credit Suisse and the former employee had denied wrongdoing.
Credit Suisse said it would appeal against the conviction. read more
The judges looked at whether Credit Suisse and the former employee did enough to prevent the cocaine trafficking gang from laundering profits through the bank from 2004 to 2008. read more
The court said on Monday it found deficiencies within Credit Suisse both with regard to the management of client relations with the criminal organisation and with regard to the monitoring of the implementation anti-money laundering rules.
“These deficiencies enabled the withdrawal of the criminal organisation’s assets, which was the basis for the conviction of the bank’s former employee for qualified money laundering,” the court said.
“The company could have prevented the infringement if it had fulfilled its organisational obligations,” the presiding judge said in handing down the verdict, adding that the former employee’s superiors had been “passive”.
Credit Suisse said the case arose from a investigation that dated back more than 14 years.
“Credit Suisse is continuously testing its anti-money laundering framework and has been strengthening it over time, in accordance with evolving regulatory standards,” the bank said.
“Generating compliant business growth in line with legal and regulatory requirements is key for Credit Suisse.”
Credit Suisse was fined 2 million Swiss francs ($2.1 million). The court also ordered the confiscation of assets worth more than 12 million francs that the drug gang held in accounts at Credit Suisse, and ordered the bank to relinquish more than 19 million francs — the amount that could not be confiscated due to internal deficiencies at Credit Suisse.
The court handed the former employee, who cannot be named under Swiss privacy laws, a suspended 20-month prison sentence and a fine for money laundering.
The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at its headquarters at the Paradeplatz square in Zurich, Switzerland October 1, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
The presiding judge said she had failed to fulfil her role in the bank’s “first line of defence”.
The former banker’s attorney said she would appeal against the “unfounded and unfair decision”, noting she had not made any financial gain.
“This judgment places the responsibility for money laundering on people without any serious training or experience,” her attorney said.
Credit Suisse shares closed up 0.4%, while the European banking sector index (.SX7P) rose 0.3%. They are down more than 40% in the past year.
LEGAL ACTION
Corruption and money laundering experts had said the fact that Switzerland had taken legal action against a global banking player like Credit Suisse could send a powerful message in a country famous for its banking industry.
“This has the potential to be a watershed moment for Switzerland,” Mark Pieth, a money laundering expert at the University of Basel, said on the eve of the trial.
“What is significant about this case is that Switzerland is taking legal action against a company and not just any company – Credit Suisse is one of the jewels in the Swiss crown.”
Swiss private banks have adopted tougher anti-money laundering checks after an international regulatory crackdown to prevent money laundering.
Under Swiss law, a company can be held liable for inadequate organisation or failing to take all reasonable measures to prevent a crime from happening.
In the Credit Suisse case, prosecutors alleged the former relationship manager helped to conceal the criminal origins of money for clients through more than 146 million Swiss francs in transactions, including 43 million francs in cash, some of it stuffed into suitcases. read more
The relationship manager, who left Credit Suisse in 2010, was not in the courtroom on Monday.
During court hearings in February, the former relationship manager said Credit Suisse learned of murders and cocaine smuggling allegedly connected to the Bulgarian gang but continued to manage cash that became the focus of the trial.
The former banker said during the hearings she informed her managers about events, including two murders, associated with the clients, but that they decided to pursue the business nonetheless.
Credit Suisse has disputed the illegal origin of the money, saying that a former Bulgarian wrestler and his circle operated legitimate businesses in construction, leasing and hotels.
($1 = 0.9594 Swiss francs)
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Reporting by Paul Carrel, Additional reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and John O’Donnell; Editing by Michael Shields and Jane Merriman
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‘Our retaliatory strikes will be lightning fast’ says Putin
Russia assaults east
Demonstrations against Russian occupation in south
Putin wants occupation as ‘cancerous growth’ in Ukraine, UK says
KYIV, April 28 (Reuters) – Russia stepped up its assaults on eastern and southern Ukraine, Kyiv said on Thursday, and President Vladimir Putin threatened “lightning-fast” retaliation against any Western countries that intervene on Ukraine’s behalf.
More than two months into an invasion that has flattened cities but failed to capture the capital Kyiv, Russia has mounted a push to seize two eastern provinces in a battle the West views as a decisive turning point in the war.
“The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” Ukraine’s military command said of the situation on the main front in the east.
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It said Russia’s main attack was near the towns of Slobozhanske and Donets, along a strategic frontline highway linking Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv with the Russian-occupied city of Izyum. The Kharkiv regional governor said Russian forces were intensifying attacks from Izyum, but Ukrainian troops were holding their ground.
Although Russian forces were pushed out of northern Ukraine last month, they are heavily entrenched in the east and also still hold a swathe of the south that they seized in March.
Ukraine said there were strong explosions overnight in the southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russia has captured since the invasion. Russian troops there used tear gas and stun grenades on Wednesday to suppress pro-Ukrainian demonstrations, and were now shelling the entire surrounding region and attacking towards Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, President Vladimir Zelenskiy’s southern home city, Ukraine said.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of planning to stage a fake independence referendum in the occupied south. Russian state media quoted an official from a self-styled pro-Russian “military-civilian commission” in Kherson on Thursday as saying the area would start using Russia’s rouble currency from May 1.
Western countries have ramped up weapons deliveries to Ukraine in recent days as the fighting in the east has intensified. More than 40 countries met this week at a U.S. air base in Germany and pledged to send heavy arms such as artillery for what is expected to be a vast battle of opposing armies along a heavily fortified front line.
Washington now says it hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia’s assault on the east, but weaken its military so that it can no longer threaten neighbours. Russia says that amounts to NATO waging “proxy war” against it.
“If someone intends to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside, and create strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast,” Putin told lawmakers in St Petersburg.
“We have all the tools for this, things no one else can boast of having now. And we will not boast, we will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know that.”
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin’s remarks were a sign of “almost desperation, trying to broaden this either with threats or indeed, with potential false flags or attacks”.
“Having failed in nearly all his objectives,” Putin was now seeking to consolidate control of occupied territory, Wallace said. “Just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country in Ukraine and make it very hard for people to move them out of those fortified positions.”
Ukrainian troops are still holed up in a giant steel works in Mariupol, the ruined southeastern port where thousands of people have died under two months of Russian siege and bombardment. Putin claimed victory in the city last week, ordering the steel works blockaded. Kyiv has pleaded for a ceasefire to let civilians and wounded soldiers escape.
“As long as we’re here and holding the defence… the city is not theirs,” Captain Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, told Reuters in video link from an undisclosed location beneath the huge factory.
“The tactic (now) is like a medieval siege. We’re encircled, they are no longer throwing lots of forces to break our defensive line. They’re conducting air strikes.”
More than 5 million refugees have fled abroad since Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow says its aim is to disarm its neighbour and defeat nationalists there. The West calls that a bogus pretext for a war of aggression.
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to deliver remarks on Thursday in support of Ukrainians, the White House said.
While Russia presses its military assault in eastern and southern Ukraine, its economic battle with the West threatens gas supplies to Europe and is battering the Russian economy.
On Wednesday, Moscow halted gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay for supplies in roubles, its first big retaliatory strike against sanctions. The president of the European Commission called the move “blackmail”.
“The sooner everyone in Europe recognises that they cannot depend on Russia for trade, the sooner it will be possible to guarantee stability in European markets,” Zelenskiy said in an overnight address.
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Additional reporting by Reuters journalists, Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Angus MacSwan
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WARSAW/SOFIA/KYIV, April 27 (Reuters) – Russia halted gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract on Wednesday, data from the European Union network of gas transmission operators showed, in a deepening of the rift between the West and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Bulgaria, like Poland a NATO and EU member, said earlier that Russia would also halt supplies of gas to it. There was no word early on Wednesday if Bulgaria’s supplies were also cut.
Ukraine accused Russia of blackmailing Europe over energy in an attempt to break its allies, as fighting heads into a third month without Russia capturing a major city.
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Staunch Kremlin opponent Poland is among the European countries seeking the toughest sanctions against Russia for invading its neighbour.
Poland’s gas supply contract with energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) is for 10.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, and covers about 50% of national consumption.
Poland’s state-owned PGNiG (PGN.WA) had said supplies from Gazprom via Ukraine and Belarus would be cut at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Wednesday, but Poland said it did not need to draw on reserves and its gas storage was 76% full.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on “unfriendly” countries to pay for gas imports in roubles, a demand only a few buyers have implemented.
“The ultimate goal of Russia’s leadership is not just to seize the territory of Ukraine, but to dismember the entire centre and east of Europe and deal a global blow to democracy,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday.
His chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Russia was “beginning the gas blackmail of Europe”.
“Russia is trying to shatter the unity of our allies,” Yermak said.
Bulgaria, which is almost completely reliant on Russian gas imports, said it had fulfilled all its contractual obligations with Gazprom and that the proposed new payment scheme was in breach of the arrangement.
It has held initial talks to import liquefied natural gas through neighbouring Turkey and Greece.
Gazprom said it had not yet suspended supplies to Poland but that Warsaw had to pay for gas in line with its new “order of payments.” It declined to comment regarding Bulgaria.
The invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, has left thousands dead or injured, reduced towns and cities to rubble, and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad.
Moscow calls its actions a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists.
Ukraine and the West say this is a false pretext for an unprovoked war to seize territory in a move that has sparked fears of wider conflict in Europe unseen since World War Two.
Russia’s ambassador to the United States has warned Washington to stop sending arms to Ukraine, saying that large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the situation.
More than 40 countries met in Germany on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine’s defence.
Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters while flying to Tuesday’s meeting that the next few weeks in Ukraine would be “very, very critical”.
Germany announced on Tuesday its first delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine, including Gepard tanks equipped with anti-aircraft guns. read more
Ukrainian pleas for heavy weapons have intensified since Moscow shifted its offensive to the eastern region of Donbas, seen as better suited for tank battles than the areas around the capital Kyiv where much of the earlier fighting took place.
A series of blasts were heard in the early hours of Wednesday in the Russian city Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, and an ammunition depot in the province was on fire.
Gladkov said no civilians had been hurt by the fire which broke out at a facility near Staraya Nelidovka village. Russia this month accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with helicopters and opening fire on several villages in the province.
The Belgorod province borders Ukraine’s Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, all of which have seen heavy fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine two months ago.
Fighting continued in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia which borders the front line are wearing body armour to plough their fields. read more
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had “liberated” the entire Kherson region in southern Ukraine and parts of the Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions, Interfax news agency reported. If confirmed, that would represent a significant Russian advance.
Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday dismantled a huge Soviet-era monument in the centre of Kyiv meant to symbolise friendship with Russia, according to the city’s mayor.
The eight-metre (27-ft) bronze statue depicted a Ukrainian and Russian worker on a plinth, holding aloft together a Soviet order of friendship. The statue was under a giant titanium “People’s Friendship Arch”, erected in 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union.
“We now see what this ‘friendship’ is – destruction of Ukrainian cities … killing tens of thousands of peaceful people. I am convinced such a monument has an entirely different meaning now,” Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday that he was ready to fully mobilise the organisation’s resources to save lives and evacuate people from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
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Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Costas Pitas and Michael Perry; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien, Robert Birsel
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ZURICH, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Credit Suisse faced charges in a Swiss court on Monday of allowing an alleged Bulgarian cocaine trafficking gang to launder millions of euros, some of it stuffed into suitcases.
In the first criminal trial of a major bank in Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors are seeking around 42.4 million Swiss francs ($45.86 million) in compensation from Credit Suisse (CSGN.S).
They say the country’s second-biggest bank and one of its former relationship managers did not take all necessary steps to prevent the alleged drug traffickers from hiding and laundering cash between 2004 and 2008.
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“Credit Suisse unreservedly rejects as meritless all allegations in this legacy matter raised against it and is convinced that its former employee is innocent,” the bank said in a statement to Reuters. It added it would “defend itself vigorously in court”.
The case has attracted intense interest in Switzerland, where it is seen as a test for prosecutors taking a potentially tougher stance against the country’s banks.
The indictment runs to more than 500 pages, and centres on relationships that Credit Suisse and its ex-employee had with former Bulgarian wrestler Evelin Banev and multiple associates, two of whom are charged in the case. A second indictment in the case charges a former relationship manager at Julius Baer with facilitating money laundering.
A legal representative for the ex-Credit Suisse employee, who cannot be named under Swiss privacy laws, said the case was unjustified and his client denied wrongdoing.
That banker would start testifying on Wednesday or Thursday, a preliminary court schedule showed.
A lawyer for the two alleged gang members, who face charges of multiple counts of misappropriation, fraud and forgery of documents in the Swiss federal court but cannot be named under Swiss privacy laws, declined to comment. A lawyer for the former relationship manager at Julius Baer did not respond to requests for comment.
Banev, who does not face charges in Switzerland, was convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 2017 and then in Bulgaria in 2018 for money laundering.
He vanished, but was arrested in September in Ukraine.
Bulgarian prosecutors are seeking his extradition to face charges of setting up an organised criminal group for money laundering, while Romania seeks him for setting up a group for drug trafficking, Interpol’s red list of wanted persons shows.
Banev’s legal representative had no immediate comment.
Julius Baer (BAER.S), which is not facing charges, declined to comment on the case.
CASH IN CASES
The former Credit Suisse employee brought at least one Bulgarian customer, who was an associate of Banev, with her when she joined Credit Suisse in 2004, prosecutors allege in the indictment.
The customer, who was later shot dead as he left a restaurant with his wife in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2005, had begun placing suitcases full of cash in a safe deposit box at Credit Suisse, the indictment says.
Prosecutors allege the gang used a practice known as smurfing, whereby a large sum of money is broken down into smaller amounts that are below the anti-money laundering alert threshold, to launder money, putting millions of euros in small-value bills into safety deposit boxes and later transferring them into accounts.
The defendants said this was standard practice at the time the deposits were made, although Swiss private banks have since adopted much tougher anti-money laundering know-your-client checks after international pressure.
The prosecutors allege the former relationship manager, who left Credit Suisse in 2010 after being detained for two weeks by police in 2009, helped conceal the criminal origins of money for the clients by carrying out more than 146 million Swiss francs in transactions, including 43 million francs in cash.
“Our client is being unfairly accused, because Swiss law requires that a person be implicated in order to condemn a bank,” attorneys at law firm MANGEAT LLC, representing the ex-employee, told Reuters. “She is innocent, outraged by the accusations. We will plead for her full and complete acquittal.”
Credit Suisse disputes the illegal origin of the money, a source familiar with its thinking told Reuters, saying that Banev and his circle operated legitimate businesses in construction, leasing and hotels.
The Swiss bank, which the indictment says considered Bulgaria as a high-risk country at the time, plans to draw attention to calls made by its compliance department to Swiss prosecutors after Banev was temporarily arrested in Bulgaria in April 2007, the source added.
Credit Suisse is hoping that the court will view that its compliance department’s move was a sign of the bank taking its anti-money laundering obligations seriously and of cooperating with prosecutors in the matter.
In June 2007, the prosecutors asked Credit Suisse for information on accounts held by Banev and his associates in response to a request from Bulgaria, the source added.
Noticing a series of withdrawals, the bank’s compliance department asked prosecutors whether to freeze the accounts, but was told not to in order to avoid tipping the clients off, according to the source.
By the time prosecutors gave Credit Suisse the go-ahead, much of the money had been withdrawn.
The prosecutors’ office declined to comment on Friday, saying the matter was in the hands of the court.
The second indictment filed by federal prosecutors against the former relationship manager at Julius Baer, which is being tried in the same court case, alleges some of the funds were transferred to another Swiss bank.
The former relationship manager, who left a few months after the transfers took place, is charged with facilitating money laundering.
Julius Baer had refused to accept a suitcase filled with cash from the defendants, the indictment says.
($1 = 0.9245 Swiss francs)
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Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Silke Koltrowitz; Additional reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Alexander Smith and Barbara Lewis
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Dec 30 (Reuters) – Coronavirus deaths in Eastern Europe topped 1 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as the Omicron variant threatened to batter the region.
Three out of the five countries reporting the highest number of daily deaths in Europe are from the East, including Russia, Poland and Ukraine, Reuters data through Thursday showed.
“I am scared because it is a huge number of daily deaths – huge, unimaginable,” said Bozena Adamowicz, a pensioner from Warsaw.
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Eastern Europe makes up 39% of the region’s population and has reported more than half the total COVID-related deaths in Europe, according to the Reuters tally.
The death toll in Eastern Europe reached 1,045,454 on Thursday, compared with 1,873,253 in all of Europe.
The region includes Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Relatively few cases of Omicron have been detected in Eastern Europe, in contrast with Western Europe where daily cases have broken records.
Poland reported 794 COVID-related deaths on Wednesday. It was a record high for the fourth wave of the pandemic, although the figure may have been inflated by delayed reporting due to Christmas.
Dr. Michal Sutkowski, spokesperson for the College of Family Physicians in Poland, blamed the rising toll in Poland on an overloaded healthcare system, a lack of knowledge and the relative reluctance to get vaccinated compared to the West, including for the most vulnerable groups.
“Unfortunately, the Omicron is approaching. It will come sooner or later … and then the number of deaths might increase dramatically, because, unfortunately, there will be an effect of scale,” he said, adding that he had noticed a growing interest in vaccinations in recent weeks.
RUSSIAN TOLL
Russia has overtaken Brazil to have the world’s second-highest death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, behind the United States, data from Russia’s state statistics service and Reuters calculations showed on Thursday.
The statistics service, Rosstat, said 87,527 people had died from coronavirus-related causes in November, making it the deadliest month in Russia since the start of the pandemic. read more
Globally the pandemic has killed more than 5.7 million people. (Graphics on global cases and deaths)
Russia has vaccinated almost 55% of its population with at least one shot, according to health minister Mikhail Murashko.
Anna Popova, head of Russia’s state consumer watchdog, voiced concern over the potential impact of 10 days of New Year holidays.
“Considering the upcoming New Year holidays, when the number of contacts between people is already increasing, the risks of the spread of the new Omicron strain will certainly increase,” she said on Tuesday.
The Czech Republic and Hungary top the region’s vaccination rates with nearly 64% of both countries’ total population having received at least one shot. Ukraine has the lowest rate with nearly 33% of its residents receiving a single dose, according to Our World in Data. (Graphics on global vaccination)
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Reporting by Lasya Priya M in Bengaluru; Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Alan Charlish and Kacper Pempel in Warsaw, Polina Nikolskaya and Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Keith Weir and Howard Goller
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Bus was taking tourists home to North Macedonia from Turkey
Survivors leapt from burning vehicle
12 children among the dead – Bulgarian official
‘This is a huge tragedy’ – North Macedonian premier
SOFIA/SKOPJE, Nov 23 (Reuters) – A bus carrying North Macedonian tourists crashed in flames on a highway in western Bulgaria before daybreak on Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including 12 children, officials said.
The cause of the accident was unclear but the bus appeared to have hit a highway barrier either before or after it caught fire, the officials said.
Seven people who leapt from the burning bus were rushed to the Pirogov emergency hospital in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and were in a stable condition, hospital staff said. They had suffered burns and one had a broken leg.
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Bulgaria’s interior ministry said 45 people had died, making it the most deadly bus accident in the Balkan country’s history.
Interim Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov said bodies were “clustered inside and are burnt to ash”.
“The picture is terrifying, terrifying. I have never seen anything like that before,” he told reporters at the site.
The accident happened on the Struma highway about 30 km (19 miles) west of Sofia around 2 a.m. (0000 GMT).
The coach party had been returning to Skopje, capital of North Macedonia, after a weekend holiday trip to Istanbul, a trip of about 800 km (500 miles).
Bulgarian investigative service chief Borislav Sarafov said four buses from a North Macedonian travel agency had entered Bulgaria late on Monday from Turkey.
“Human error by the driver or a technical malfunction are the two initial versions for the accident,” Sarafov said.
CRYING AND IN SHOCK
In front of the Ismail Qemali elementary school in Skopje, pupils cried after hearing news that five of their schoolmates, all from one family, had been killed.
“Ergin was my friend. He was a very good boy. Very nice. I am so sorry that they died,” Blerim Bushi, 11, told Reuters.
A view shows the site where a bus with North Macedonian plates caught fire on a highway, near the village of Bosnek, Bulgaria, November 23, 2021. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
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In Sofia, Adnan Yasharovski, 45, said his 16-year-old daughter Zuleikha called him to say she had survived the crash, and he travelled to see her in hospital.
“She was crying. Her hands were burnt but otherwise fine,” he told Reuters outside the hospital.
“She didn’t say much, she was crying and she was in shock. I only saw her through the door as due to COVID, they did not let me into the room.”
Some relatives gathered outside the Besa Trans agency in Skopje, whose Facebook page advertised twice-weekly trips to Istanbul, and which Yasharovski said ran the trip. The office was closed and its representatives could not be reached for comment.
Television footage showed the bus standing upright but charred and gutted by fire in the middle of the highway, which was wet from rain.
“This is a huge tragedy,” North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told reporters in Sofia and expressed his condolences to relatives of the victims.
Zaev said the passengers were all from North Macedonia but appeared to include a Serbian citizen and a Belgian citizen. It was unclear whether the two were among the victims or injured.
Zaev said he had spoken to one of the seven survivors who told him the passengers were sleeping when they were woken by the sound of an explosion.
He said people sitting at the back of the bus were able to break a window and jump out.
Zaev said the passengers were from various communities in North Macedonia, a country of 2 million that borders Bulgaria and is home to an ethnic Albanian minority.
In Skopje, ethnic Albanian Osman, 31, told Reuters he had come to the office of the travel agency with his brother and sister seeking information about their parents.
“We do not know if they were on the bus that crashed or not. We have no information about them. The agency is not answering the phone. Perhaps we will need to go to Bulgaria,” he said.
Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka said the passengers were from North Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian community.
“Great grief for the 45 lost lives of Albanians from Northern Macedonia during the tragic accident in Bulgaria,” he said on Twitter.
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Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia, additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Skopje; Writing by Stephen Coates and Jan Lopatka; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Gareth Jones and Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.