Danish prosecutors drop money laundering charges against ex-Danske Bank staff

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish prosecutors said on Thursday they had dropped charges against six former Danske Bank employees as part of an investigation into the bank's involvement in one of the world's biggest money laundering scandals.

Danske Bank is under investigation in several countries, including the United States, over some 200 billion euros ($246 billion) of suspicious transactions that passed through the bank's Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015.

The Danish state prosecutor filed preliminary charges against nine former managers in 2019 accused of breaching Danish money laundering laws.

"We have not found gross negligence, and thus there is no basis for indictment for having violated the money laundering act," State Prosecutor Per Fiig told broadcaster DR, referring to six of the former employees.

He declined to give an update on the three others.

A spokesman confirmed charges were dropped for six former staff.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)