Dikran Ego, who is responsible for the Södertälje-based TV channel, received a letter at the beginning of February this year, in which the bank explains why they want to terminate the TV channel’s services.
– They sent a decision on closure, then we heard nothing more. We contested the decision, but all we got was a response now, eight months later, where the bank just said they are going to close the account.
Could be money laundering, according to SEB
In the letter, which SVT read, it states, among other things, that the bank must, by law, always follow up its customer relations regarding the money laundering act. The assessment is that Ideella Föreningen Assyriska, which runs Assyria TV, has not provided the bank with sufficient evidence.
Has demanded answers and documentation
Johanna Helsing Martin, press officer at SEB, does not want to comment on individual cases, but still mentions that a customer cannot have his bank account terminated without reason.
– The bank has a statutory obligation to ask questions of all its customers and demand documentation. If this is not provided or if the answers are not satisfactory, we are also unable to provide products and services and may also end the customer relationship.
Dikran Ego has come in with answers to all questions, he believes, and does not provide much for SEB’s reasoning.
– How can you be so lawless in Sweden? The bank does not put a finger on a single transaction, neither in nor out. Then comes the decision anyway.
But even if the TV channel’s account is blocked, it still remains with the bank.
– We still can’t do anything ourselves. We have to book an appointment at the bank now, to be able to handle every matter. We don’t know if money will come in, completely impossible to manage the economy that way.