Nordea Spared Laundering Probe as Finland Drops Browder Case

Finland won’t start a formal investigation into Nordea Bank Abp after Hermitage Capital co-founder Bill Browder filed a criminal complaint accusing the Nordic region’s biggest financial firm of money laundering.

Finnish police have been reviewing the case since October, after Browder alleged that Nordea let $234 million in suspicious funds flow through its Finnish branch. But a preliminary inquiry by the National Bureau of Investigation in Helsinki found that the “allegedly suspicious acts” were committed in Estonia and Lithuania, where Finnish authorities have no jurisdiction, according to a statement on Tuesday. The bureau also said the transfers largely took place more than 10 years ago, putting them under the statutes of limitations.