Vladimir Putin cellist in spotlight as Gazprombank four go on trial

The trial of the former head of Gazprombank’s Swiss unit and three colleagues got underway in Zurich on Wednesday morning, who are charged with failing to raise the alarm over financial transactions made by a cello-playing confidant of Vladimir Putin.

The chief of Gazprombank Schweiz AG, two senior executives at the bank and a client relationship manager neglected to carry out proper due diligence between 2014 and 2016 into Sergei Roldugin’s finances and connections, according to the Zurich prosecutor’s indictment.

Roldugin is a “close friend” of the Russian president and godfather to Putin’s daughter, and the bankers should’ve scrutinised if he was was the real beneficial owner of Gazprombank accounts belonging to shell companies in Panama and Cyprus, the prosecutors said. The four, three of whom are Russian and one Swiss, “continued the business relationship unacceptably, although they themselves had serious doubts about the correctness of the information about the beneficial owner,” according to prosecutors.


They are seeking a seven-month suspended sentence with two years of probation for the men, who can't be identified under Swiss law.

Lawyers for two of the accused denied in court any wrongdoing, while lawyers for the two other defendants said they had nothing to add beyond their colleagues. The client relationship manager took the stand first.