According to a disclosure made by the bank to the Securities Exchange Commission on March 20, 2017 Dutch prosecutors announced their investigation of Netherlands-based bank ING for its alleged involvement in money laundering and corruption in Uzbekistan,
According to the Dutch prosecutors, the subject of the investigation includes “unusual payments by VimpelCom to the company of an official.”
ING’s disclosure to the SEC acknowledged the criminal investigations into ING for “various requirements related to the On-boarding of clients, money laundering and corrupt practices.”
U.S. authorities have served information requests to ING, and ING has indicated its cooperation in responding to those requests. Documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York early last year reveal that the Uzbek official at the centre of the investigation is the late President, Islam Karimov.
U.S. prosecutors claimed that of the $800 million paid in bribes, $184 million originated from ING.
In February 2016, VimpelCom
- paid $795 million to settle the charges, and
- admitted paying more than $114 million in bribes to a government official in Uzbekistan through a shell company between 2006 and 2012.
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