Hungary’s National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) has closed its investigation into employees of Ukraine’s Oschadbank who were detained in March while transporting 40 million U.S. dollars and 35 million euros in cash, as well as 9 kilograms of gold, through Hungary while en route from Austria to Ukraine. NAV concluded that no crime had been committed, said Lóránt Horváth, a lawyer representing the bank and the couriers. The Hungarian outlet HVG also reported on the decision.
Horváth said investigators fully established the origin of the seized money and precious metals: they were indeed being transported as part of an interbank transaction between Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Ukraine’s state-owned Oschadbank. Raiffeisen provided documents confirming the origin of the banknotes and metals, as well as payment by Oschadbank. NAV found that the assets were not of criminal origin and that there were no signs of money laundering or any other crime.
Hungarian law enforcement detained seven Oschadbank employees and two cash-in-transit vehicles on March 5. Oschadbank said from the outset that the shipment was a routine transfer being carried out under a contract with Raiffeisen and that the operation fully complied with international rules and European customs procedures.
