Updated On: 31 March, 2023 07:29 AM IST | Geneva | Agencies
It took years for prosecutors to unravel the web of money and bring the case to court

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, presents a medal to Russian cellist Sergei Roldugin, in Moscow’s Kremlin, Russia, in 2016. Pic/AP
Four former bankers with the Swiss affiliate of a key Russian bank were found guilty Thursday of failing to properly check accounts opened in the name of a Russian cellist with longtime ties to President Vladimir Putin.
The defendants were handed suspended sentences in Zurich district court that, if violated, could lead collectively to hundreds of thousands of Swiss francs in fines. The verdict follows a one-day trial on March 8 based on information about secret financial flows revealed in the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that implicated musician and Putin’s childhood friend Sergei Roldugin. It took years for prosecutors to unravel the web of money and bring the case to court.