Swiss prosecutors will allege at the start of the trial of “Putin’s bankers” on Wednesday that a cellist close to the Russian president helped him transfer millions of francs through banks in Switzerland, Reuters reports.

Prosecutors say Sergei Roldugin, a close friend of the Kremlin leader, deposited millions of francs into Swiss bank accounts between 2014 and 2016.

The four bankers who have been prosecuted with him are accused of failing to carry out their due diligence obligations, despite “objective” doubts that should have arisen about the transactions.

The main allegation is that they did not attempt to identify the beneficiary of the funds, according to the indictment seen by Reuters.

Three of the bankers are Russian citizens and the fourth is Swiss, all working in Zurich. They deny all the charges brought against them.

Sergey Rodulgin’s relationship with the President of Russia

According to the documents, Rodulgin was the owner of two separate accounts opened at Gazprombank Switzerland in 2014, through which millions of Swiss francs passed. This happened despite the fact that the man, who is on the list of Russians under Swiss sanctions, had no activity in the documents provided to the bank to justify such sums.

At the time, the cellist told the New York Times that he was definitely not a businessman and that he did not own millions of francs. He is one of the Russians sanctioned by the West, particularly Switzerland, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine because of his close ties to the Kremlin.

According to an indictment drawn up by Swiss prosecutors, the case illustrates how people like Rodulgin were used as “fronts” to hide the true identity of those holding the money.

“It is common knowledge that President Putin officially has an income of only 100,000 Swiss francs and that he is not rich, but in fact he owns huge assets managed by people close to him,” Zurich prosecutors said.

Earlier, Putin said that Rodulgin was his friend, a brilliant musician and philanthropist who made money from a small stake in a Russian company.

The Kremlin rejected any suggestion that Rodulgin’s money had anything to do with the Russian president, and explained away the accusations of “Putinophobia.”

The cellist is called “Putin’s wallet”

“At the time the accounts were opened, various articles reported that (…) Sergey Rodulgin is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the godfather of his daughter,” the indictment states, adding that other warning signs were ignored by the bankers and that they did not tried to determine whether this person is really the true owner of the assets.

In Switzerland, banks are obliged to reject or terminate business relations if there are doubts about the identity of the counterparty. Both accounts opened by him were closed in September 2016.

Rodulgin has also been sanctioned by the United States, and the Treasury Department in Washington has said he is part of a system that manages Putin’s wealth abroad.

The Swiss government called it “Putin’s wallet” when it put it on the sanctions list.

The prosecutor’s office demanded 7 months of conditional imprisonment for each of the accused bankers.

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