Moscow police have placed three bankers under house arrest after discovering a clandestine group of financial managers responsible for illegally funneling 10 billion rubles ($152 million) abroad, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday.
The Interior Ministry's economic security and anti-corruption unit, in cooperation with the Investigative Committee, “stopped the activity of an organized group whose members engaged in illegal banking activities related to cashing out, transferring, and illegally withdrawing funds abroad,” Interior Ministry Spokesperson Yelena Alexeyeva was quoted as saying.
From 2012 to 2015, the group of unidentified bankers succeeded in moving about 10 billion rubles out of Russia, taking a cut of over 400 million rubles. Members of the group included officials representing the trade mission of an unidentified foreign embassy, the Interior Ministry said, Kommersant reported.