The Circuit Court of Tallinn, acting on a motion made by Magnusson Estonia’s Attorney-at-Law Martin Hirvoja, has ordered the Estonian Central Prosecution Office to initiate a criminal investigation into the leak of files from the Danske Bank money-laundering case.
The Danske Bank criminal case revolves around the alleged laundering of around EUR 200 billion by the bank’s Estonian branch from 2007 to 2015.
According to Magnusson, “in September 2020, Estonian newspapers published series of articles based on the 17,600 documents leaked to the Italian media house l´Espresso, including at least hundreds of documents from the Danske money laundering investigation files collected by the Estonian investigative authorities.”
“Estonian law grants immunity to any media representative from questioning or punishing for the leak, but these provisions do not protect a person who had access to the confidential files due to serving as a government officer,“ said Hirvoja, who is representing two defendants in the criminal proceedings.
