Bonnesen was suspected of serious crimes and faced a maximum sentence of six years in prison.
The Stockholm district court has released the former CEO of Swedish Swedbank by Birgitte Bonnesen of all charges.
Bonnesen was accused of gross fraud or alternatively gross market manipulation and disclosure of insider information. The longest he faced was a prison sentence of six years.
The court wrote in its judgment that in fraud, it is not enough for someone to provide incorrect information or omit key information for criminal liability, but misleading information is needed to influence the recipient in a certain direction.
The prosecutors’ evidence was also not sufficient for a verdict on the disclosure of insider information.
Bonnesen was suspected of leaking information to the board and major shareholders about an upcoming episode of Swedish broadcaster SVT’s investigative journalism program Uppdrag granskning. The episode told about the money laundering that took place through Swedbank’s subsidiary in the years 2007–2018.
Bonnenen was fired after the skein was revealed.
– The CEO has only given general information about the content of the program. According to the district court, what was said at the owner’s meeting was too imprecise to be insider information, the court wrote.
The trial began last October. Bonnenen denied the charges throughout the proceedings.
Swedbank’s money laundering scheme has also been investigated by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.