MOSCOW, March 31 (RAPSI) - The police have arrested members of an international crime group that allegedly laundered some 26 billion rubles ($730 million), the Interior Ministry reported Monday.

“The group obtained bank details of over 100 corporations, including non-resident companies that have accounts at a Liechtenstein bank,” the statement says.
According to the ministry, the “bankers” purchased foreign currency for their customers from accountable organizations – allegedly gold and silver coin dealers and metal buyers.

Since 2011, when the business was established, the group has made over 390 million rubles ($10.9 mln).

The police have detained seven gang members, including their leader who has dual citizenship in Russia and Israel.

According to the Interior Ministry, the suspects laundered the money by transferring it to accounts of foreign companies, of which they were beneficiaries. “To make the activity look legitimate, the violators invested some of the funds into property construction in the Moscow and Bryansk regions while they used the other part to buy a share in a commercial bank,” the statement says.

The police have done dozens of searches and confiscated documents and stocks worth over 60 million rubles ($1.7 mln).