The former CEO of Swedbank, Birgitte Bonnesen, is set to face trial on fraud and market manipulation charges after an investigation allegedly showed proof of her role into a money-laundering scandal at the heart of the Swedish bank during the time of her leadership.

Bonnesen, who took on the top role at Swedbank in 2016, was fired in 2019 after allegations of money-laundering in Estonia first emerged.

Thomas Langrot, in charge of the investigation against Bonnesen, said Swedish authorities believe Swedbank's former CEO tried to cover up her the illegal activity by diffusing "intentionally or by aggravated negligence [...] false information about the bank's measures to prevent, detect, block and signal suspicions about money-laundering in [its] operations."

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A 2019 documentary about the scandal accused Swedbank of having allegedly used at least $4.4 billion in suspicious transactions made from the bank's accounts to Baltic countries. But a report from law firm Clifford Chance published in March 2020 revealed the amount of money involved in transactions at high risk for money laundering between 2014 and 2019 was as high as $40 billion.

In the year after the first allegations of money-laundering in February 2019, shares in the Swedish bank dropped by more than 40 percent. The bank also had to pay a fine of $380 million, as decided by Sweden's and Estonia's financial regulators. 

Bonnesen's lawyer said she denies all of the charges against her. If found guilty by the Swedish court she faces up to six years in prison.

Cover Photo: News Oresund / Sofi Eriksson/Wikimedia Commons