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Foreign investors planning lawsuit against Danske Bank
Stephen Gadd
November 21st, 2018
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This article is more than 6 years old.
The current problems Danske Bank has over money-laundering could become even worse
Wilkinson shed some badly-needed light on some of Danske Bank’s shady dealings (photo: David Avoura King/Flickr)
A group of foreign investors are planning to sue Danske Bank to obtain compensation for losses sustained due to the bank’s shares taking a pounding on the stock market as a result of the money-laundering scandal.
It has not been revealed who the investors are or what the sums involved are, reports Berlingske.
Cause and effect
“It seems obvious to us that there is a connection between the way action has been taken – or not been taken – from Danske Bank’s side, and the huge losses the bank’s shareholders have suffered,” said a spokesperson for the law firm Németh Sigetty, which will represent the group.
Shares in Danske Bank have fallen by around 50 percent since the case broke in 2017, which equates to losses of around 100 billion kroner.
Whistleblower visits parliament
Earlier this week, the English whistleblower Howard Wilkinson was in Denmark giving evidence at a hearing in Parliament on the scandal. For several years, Wilkinson was head of the bank’s Estonian branch, from where he warned senior management repeatedly, but no action was taken.
On top of that, he was also forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement drawn up by a high-powered Danish lawyer in exchange for a payment when he stood down after threatening the bank he would compile his own report on the money laundering for the Estonian authorities, reports DR Nyheder.
No recollection
“I was told that I could have a ‘golden handshake’ but had to sign a confidentiality agreement. The agreement was very clear: I couldn’t publish any information unless the law demanded it,” said Wilkinson.
The bank’s acting administrative director Jesper Nielsen rejected the idea that the bank had put obstacles in Wilkinson’s way. He also professed ignorance of the fact that anyone at the bank could have offered money in return for Wilkinson’s silence.
Nielsen would admit, however, that the bank ought to have heeded the warnings.
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