Deutsche Bank did not disclose more than one million suspect money transfers with Danske Bank until February, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, about five years after a whistleblower flagged suspicious transactions at Danske, Reuters reported.
Deutsche sent alerts about the suspect money flows involving the Danish bank to Germany’s money laundering data authority and state prosecutors, prompting investigators to seek more information from Deutsche.
Prosecutors are investigating whether staff or management at Deutsche sanctioned the transactions, and whether they subsequently tried to cover them up, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Deutsche did not comment on the time taken to flag the transactions to authorities, which has previously not been reported, but said it ended its relationship with Danske in 2015 and had strengthened its anti-money laundering controls, Reuters noted.
Danske Bank was ejected from Estonia this year after admitting 200 billion euros ($220 billion) of suspicious money flowed through its branch there between 2007 and 2015.
Deutsche got involved into the scandal because it processed the bulk of the transactions for the Danish bank, leading German prosecutors to visit Deutsche’s headquarters last month with police and a search warrant.
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