The former CEO of ING is being prosecuted for his role in a major money laundering scandal that ultimately cost the bank hundreds of millions. The court in The Hague has decided that the Public Prosecution Service must prosecute Ralph Hamers.
The court announced this today,
775 million euros
ING had to pay 775 million euros to the Public Prosecution Service in 2018, because for years it had done far too little to prevent money laundering by customers. As a result, the state missed out on tax revenues, criminal money could be put into circulation and ING benefited from the clientele.
So the bank had to bleed for that, but the person ultimately responsible – Ralph Hamers – went free. Activist Pieter Lakeman nevertheless tried to enforce prosecution, via a so-called article 12 procedure. That has now succeeded.
No responsibility taken
“The facts are serious, no settlement has been reached with the director himself, nor has he taken public responsibility for his actions,” the court writes.
“The court considers it important that in a public criminal trial the standard is confirmed that even directors of a bank do not go unpunished if they have actually directed serious prohibited conduct. accepted. ”
‘Huge success’
Lakeman is extremely happy with the verdict. “It is a huge success: it is an impetus to clean up the financial world. In the Netherlands, but also in Europe.”
According to Lakeman, the OM has clearly failed. “They stated that there were no indications or evidence that top people knew about the fraud. We only saw a fraction of the documents and it was clear that Hamers knew about it.”
Lakeman thinks it is important that Hamers is prosecuted. According to him, it is fundamentally incorrect that the company is held responsible for the failure of a driver and not the driver himself. They make the policy, he says.
Disappointed
An ING spokesperson says the bank is ‘disappointed’ with the court’s ruling. The Public Prosecution Service concluded earlier that there is no reason to hold individual employees accountable, the bank regrets that the judge thinks otherwise.
The bank does say it is satisfied that the settlement that was reached two years ago remains unaffected. The Court also ruled on this.
UBS: full confidence in Hamers
Hamers is now CEO of the Swiss bank UBS. The judge’s decision has no consequences for his position there.
“UBS is confident in Ralph Hamers’ ability to lead UBS,” said a bank spokesman.
A request to speak to Hamers in person was rejected by UBS.
