French indictment against banks overruled

A Paris appeals court today overruled criminal indictments against eight banks and 130 people accused of involvement in a money-laundering scheme operating between France and Israel.

The indictments against the individuals and banks – including Britain’s Barclays – were overturned on procedural irregularities.

The case involves the alleged processing of almost €80m in illegal gains since 1996 and was being closely watched as a potentially important test of banks’ accountability for money-laundering offences committed by staff.

A new judge will now be appointed and fresh indictments could be filed against any or all of the defendants, including the banks.

Under French law, investigating magistrates decide whether to press charges against suspects, but only after receiving the opinion of the prosecutor’s office – which they are not obliged to follow.

However, the appeals court ruled that investigating magistrate had failed to follow procedures when issuing the indictments