DNB Says Authorities Have Ended Probe Into Money-Laundering Allegations – The Wall Street Journal

Norwegian bank DNB AS A said Friday that an investigation into its alleged involvement in handling payments from an Icelandic fishing company embroiled in a bribery probe has been dismissed.

The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, known as Okokrim, launched a probe in November 2019 following a WikiLeaks data dump and subsequent allegations made in Icelandic media.

DNB said in a statement Friday that it had been informed that the investigation hasnt generated any information that gives grounds for criminal prosecution of individuals and the public prosecutor isnt of the view that a corporate penalty is applicable in this case. The case has therefore been dismissed, DNB said.

WikiLeaks published over 30,000 documents it called the Fishrot Files, which suggested that Icelandic fishing group Samherji hf had for years paid millions of dollars in bribes to Namibian officials for fishing quotas in the countrys waters.

Icelandic media then claimed that Samherji used DNB to funnel over $70 million to a shell company in the Marshall Islands, made up partially of proceeds from its Namibian activities.

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DNB Says Authorities Have Ended Probe Into Money-Laundering Allegations - The Wall Street Journal