Corrupt banker's sister admits role in laundering £2.7m in bribes

The sister of a corrupt banker has admitted her part in laundering 3.5 million US dollars (£2.7 million) in bribes.

Mother-of-three Tatjana Sanderson, 39, let Channel Island accounts in her name be used to bank the money for Anglo-Russian sibling Andrey Ryjenko.

At the time, Ryjenko, 45, was employed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in a role which required him to consider equity investment and loan applications from firms.

He accepted more than 3.5 million dollars in return for approving loans for Dmitrij Harder, then principal owner of Chestnut Consulting Group, based in Southampton, Pennsylvania, in the United States.

At the Old Bailey on Wednesday, Sanderson pleaded guilty to concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between September 2007 and March 2010.

The court heard the money remained in the bank accounts "outside the jurisdiction" but had not been touched by Sanderson, who lives in her parents' multimillion pound flat near Hyde Park.

Prosecutor Tom Little QC said a further bribery charge would not be proceeded with by the Crown.

Sanderson, of Sussex Gardens, west London, was granted conditional bail to be sentenced by Judge Nicholas Cooke QC at the Old Bailey on September 25.

Her guilty plea followed a long-running bribery case which led to convictions in Britain and the United States.

Last June, Ryjenko, 45, was jailed for six years after he was convicted of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments and transferring criminal property following a five-week trial at the Old Bailey.

Sanderson had been declared unfit to stand trial but the jury decided she was involved in the corruption as a matter of fact.

Meanwhile in the US, Harder, the former owner and president of Chestnut Consulting Group Inc, was jailed for five years for bribery.

Harder, 45, of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, had pleaded guilty in April 2016 to two counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In sentencing, US District Judge Paul Diamond ordered Harder to forfeit 1.9 million dollars (£1.4 million).

Last year, Elspeth Pringle, from the CPS, said: "Andrey Ryjenko repeatedly abused his position of power within a publicly-funded bank by accepting corrupt payments.

"Despite his efforts to disguise his crimes, the prosecution was able to present a compelling case to the jury, resulting in his conviction and jail sentence.

"This conviction was made possible through effective cross-border partnerships between a number of jurisdictions, including the United States."