Banks, Cooperation, Estonia, Financial Services, USA

Next, Helme is planning to discuss further steps with Minister of Justice Raivo Aeg. "We will discuss how the Ministry of Justice sees this, how the prosecutor's office fits into this and how other Estonian law enforcement authorities fit into this," the finance minister said at a press conference on Tuesday. In addition, Helme is planning to meet with Kilvar Kessler, head of the Financial Supervision Authority (FSA), next week.

Last week, the Estonian finance minister attended the annual conference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the US. Helme also met with an international law office in New York, which, according to the minister, has versatile experience in anti-money laundering cases. However, the minister still did not wish to disclose the name of the law office.

"We do not have any cooperation agreement. If we do establish a contract with somebody, we will announce a procurement and there is no point in me creating agitation [in connection with] any company with which we have no real substantive cooperation. We have not paid anyone a cent yet," Helme said.

During the visit to the law office, Helme discussed how to guarantee that the investigations initiated by the US concerning money laundering violations of banks operating in Estonia are carried out in a way that would include Estonia in the process at all times and that a vast majority of the fine is paid into Estonia's state budget in the end. At that, the minister emphasized that when visiting the law office, he was operating under the authority of the government and there was no unauthorized activity.

Helme also met with Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing in the United States Department of the Treasury Marshall Billingslea in Washington, DC and with CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management Bill Browder in London. According to the minister, the aim of the meetings was to help along the fight against money laundering on the higher political level as well.

The finance minister emphasized that the US' approach to money laundering is very different from that of Europe. "At the threat of criminal and administrative penalties, negotiations are conducted with the offender and an agreement is reached finally on what the penalty will be. Part of the penalty is usually a very large fine, but it is not the only part and it is not always the most important," Helme said.

"I do not consider it an unreasonable solution that if we share the information, then eventually, in the event of a penalty, the fine will be shared with us," the minister said. According to Helme, the sums of fines imposed as a result of international cooperation range from hundreds of millions to billions of US dollars.

As one example of similar incidents that have taken place elsewhere in the world, the minister highlighted the USD 2.6 bn fine of Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which at the end of the joint investigation was shared by the US Department of Justice, the Swiss prosecutor's office and Brazil. At that, the first two received 10% each of the sum of the fine, while the rest, 80%, was paid into the state budget of Brazil.

In response to a claim published in media that sharing information with the US is unconstitutional, Helme said that Estonia is currently also cooperation with EU authorities and the US. For example, Estonia has formed a joint investigation team in cooperation with the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for investigating the Danske Bank case. "Letters rogatory and responding to letters rogatory is standard procedure and the exchange of information within this framework is also a daily issue," he added.

At the meeting with Billingslea, Helme gave an overview of what Estonia has done so far in the fight against money laundering and what the planned law amendments are. According to the finance minister, a very clear message came out of the meeting. "He is unable to tell us what the right number of people is who must be punished for previous actions, but this number cannot be zero," Helme said.

He added that for Americans, this is a message that Estonia is not taking the fight against money laundering seriously. "A very clear message was that this logic of not looking into the past and looking only into the future does not satisfy them. And I also voiced very clearly that this also does not satisfy me and the current government," Helme said.

The minister emphasized that a conclusive line can be drawn under previous incidents only when it has been determined exactly what went wrong, who made a mistake and where the responsibility lies, and when the offenders have been handed their punishment.

In London, Helme met with Browder who, according to the minister, foremost emphasized that the fight against money laundering is effective in countries where the prosecutor's office is committed to dealing with it.

"The fact that the Estonian prosecutor's office has been very ineffective and tepid in the fight against money laundering is clear," Helme said. He added that Browder was also critical of the activity of the Estonian prosecutor's office.