Swiss bankers accused of lax control of Putin pal’s accounts

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Four former bankers with the now-shuttered Swiss affiliate of a major Russian bank have gone on trial over allegations that they didn’t properly check accounts opened in the name of a Russian cellist with longtime ties to President Vladimir Putin. The one-day trial in Zurich district court Wednesday stems from information about secretive financial flows revealed in the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that implicated musician and Putin’s childhood friend Sergei Roldugin. The four former bankers are charged with failing to adequately check whether Roldugin actually owned assets in the accounts. Putin has denied the accusations, and the Kremlin didn’t comment on the trial Wednesday.