Satnam Lehal, Danske Bank's head of financial crime.

Amid a flurry of charges against former bank managers in one of the world's largest money laundering scandals, Denmark's Danske Bank on Wednesday named Satnam Lehal to head its financial crime unit, starting in July.

In the announcement, Danske Bank said Lehal, 41, would head its unit responsible for “preventing money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, bribery and corruption and ensuring strict adherence to sanctions and embargoes requirements.”

Since 2009 he has worked at Morgan Stanley, most recently as managing director responsible for preventing financial crime across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia. At Danske, he will report to chief compliance officer Philippe Vollot, who joined the bank last December from Deutsche Bank as part of Danske's reform efforts. Lehal could not be reached for comment, and the bank declined comment beyond its press statement.

In the statement Vollot said, “The appointment of Satnam Lehal reinforces Danske Bank's commitment to combat financial crime. His extensive experience will be crucial in supporting our progress in the implementation of an effective financial crime risk framework.”

The appointment came as various news media Tuesday and Wednesday reported that Danish prosecutors have charged up to 10 former bank managers in connection with laundering some $230 billion in Russian money at its Estonia branch between 2007 and 2015.

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Former chief executive Thomas Borgen, who resigned last October, was among the 10 people charged, according to the media reports. Among other things Borgen oversaw the bank's international operations.

Denmark's state prosecutor had already charged the bank itself last November with four counts of violating the Danish Anti-Money Laundering Act. Prosecutors in the U.K., France and the U.S. are still investigating the scandal. The bank has said it is cooperating with the investigations.

Besides Borgen, last fall Danske Bank also replaced its chief financial officer and then the chairman of the board and the chairman of the board's auditing committee. Danske is Denmark's largest bank.

An internal investigative report released last September contained numerous references to the role of the group legal department and the group compliance and anti-money laundering department in allowing the scandal. The report found that the bank's general counsel had been moved to report to the chief financial officer, and that several in-house counsel efforts to investigate money laundering had been stymied.

Kenni Leth, group press officer for the Copenhagen-based bank, has previously told Corporate Counsel, “Danske Bank has a particular responsibility in the joint fight against money laundering and financial crime, but we have failed to live up to this responsibility in this case.”

He added, “We have launched a number of initiatives to prevent anything similar from ever happening again, and we are determined to learn the lessons from this case and share our experiences in a broad and constructive cooperation with all relevant stakeholders.”