Vladimir Putin's funds may be on the account of cellist and friend of the Russian President in Switzerland Sergey Roldugin

Vladimir Putin's funds may be on the account of cellist and friend of the Russian President in Switzerland Sergey Roldugin

Tages-Anzeiger reported that the Zurich prosecutor's office brought charges against the head of Russia's Gazprombank in Switzerland and three senior bank officials. They are accused of opening two accounts for Russian officials in 2014, when sanctions were imposed on Russia due to the temporary occupation of Crimea.

Among the leaked Panama Papers in 2016 was evidence that cellist Sergey Roldugin was the owner of the open accounts. A few days after the revelation, the Swiss Financial Market Authority (Finma) launched an investigation. After a detailed review, it concluded that the bank had breached its sanctions obligations against Russia.

Also, the country's Prosecutor General notes in his report that the musician Roldugin is not the real owner of all the funds in the Gazprombank accounts. Instead, in an interview with the New York Times, the musician said he did not own any millions.

The four suspects deny the charges. The prosecutor demands seven months of imprisonment with a probationary period for each.

According to the Swiss publication Tages-Anzeiger, the indictment directly mentions Russian President Vladimir Putin:

"It is known that Russian President Putin officially has an income of just over 100 thousand francs, but in reality he has huge assets managed by people close to him," the report says.