Credit Suisse paid out millions despite compliance alert, drugs trial told

An ex-Credit Suisse manager told a Swiss court on Monday that millions of euros were paid out of accounts linked to a Bulgarian wrestler at the centre of an international drugs probe, despite the bank's legal compliance department being alerted.

Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) and one of its former wealth managers face charges of letting an alleged cocaine trafficking gang launder millions of euros from 2004 to 2008 in the first criminal trial of a major bank in Switzerland.

Switzerland's second biggest bank has rejected all the allegations and said there was no wrongdoing by its former employee in a case that has attracted intense interest in the country, where it is seen as a test for prosecutors taking a potentially tougher stance against its influential lenders.

State prosecutors allege the former relationship manager, who left Credit Suisse in 2010, helped conceal the criminal origins of money for the clients through more than 146 million Swiss francs in transactions, including 43 million francs in cash, some of it stuffed into suitcases.

Credit Suisse disputes the illegal origin of the money, a source familiar with its thinking told Reuters, saying that the former Bulgarian wrestler, Evelin Banev, and his circle operated legitimate businesses in construction, leasing and hotels.