Svea Court of Appeal finds former Swedbank CEO Birgitte Bonnesen guilty of aggravated fraud and sentences her to one year and three months in prison.
The case concerned whether the former CEO was guilty of aggravated fraud or, alternatively, aggravated market manipulation when she made statements about the bank’s anti-money laundering measures in the bank’s Estonian operations. At issue was also whether she improperly disclosed inside information at a meeting with representatives of the bank’s largest shareholders, the court said.
“The Court of Appeal concludes that the then CEO provided misleading information when she was interviewed by Svenska Dagbladet and TT in connection with the bank’s release of its third quarterly report in 2018. The information conveyed the misleading message that there were no suspected money laundering links to another bank’s operations in Estonia. The information was likely to influence the assessment of the Swedish bank in financial terms and thereby cause damage”, the court ruled.
The court also found the former CEO guilty of aggravated fraud, but acquitted her of the other charges.
– The Court of Appeal has assessed a number of statements made to the media and stock analysts. The court has concluded that two of the statements were incorrect or involved such a skewed selection of facts that they were misleading within the meaning of the law, says Sven Johannisson, President of the Court of Appeal, in a press release.
It should be noted that in January last year, the District Court acquitted Bonnesen on all charges, as it considered that her statements were not sufficiently concrete to be criminal. The Court of Appeal thus makes a completely different assessment.
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