Bulgaria alleges Russian Money Laundering
On January 5, 2009, Bulgarian prosecutors said they were investigating an international money laundering scheme that allegedly involves large sums of Russian cash.
A recent newspaper report said that more than EUR 1 billion of laundered Russian money had been laundered through a series of transactions in Bulgaria and Estonia. The prosecutors’ spokeswoman confirmed that such a probe is existent. However, she refused to provide any further details and emphasized that the nature of the investigation was very confidential.
According to a justice official quoted in the newspaper under condition of anonymity, the probe scale is unprecedented for the whole EU.