Money laundering probe

Public prosecutors in Dusseldorf said yesterday they had begun investigations into a huge money laundering scandal, in which some of the money passed through the leading German public bank, WestLB. A spokesman for the prosecutors, Mr Peter Schwarzwald, declined to say how much money was involved, but a report in the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel put it at "more than seven billion marks" (€3.58 billion) since 1997. The inquiries focus on "an international company active in eastern Europe", which operated under the name TWG, Mr Schwarzwald said. Spiegel said TWG specialised in raw materials in eastern Europe. The daily Die Welt said it was based in Russia.