LJUBLJANA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian police conducted raids on more than 20 bank offices and private homes in major cities on Monday to gather evidence against a crime ring that is suspected of defrauding banks.
Quoting unofficial information, the Slovenian Press Agency STA reported that five people, including two alleged organizers, had been detained.
The Ljubljana Police Department said that some 100 officers had been conducting searches in the Ljubljana, Koper and Kranj police districts.
While police would not reveal any details, Slovenia's largest bank NLB (Nova Ljubljanska banka) has confirmed that searches were conducted at its offices, said the STA.
Several months ago, the bank reported to the local police a suspicion of corrupt practices that damaged NLB and some other banks.
"Today's searches are the result of our report. NLB is cooperating with the police in order to guarantee a successful end to the investigation, which is also in the interest of the bank," sources from NLB said.
The STA report also quoted undisclosed sources as saying the crime ring secured loans of up to 15,000 euros (17,678 U.S. dollars) for clients who were not credit worthy in exchange for a commission.
Bank employees are believed to have falsified their documents, with clients taking out several loans with different banks on the same day in some cases.
The surprise searches have also been conducted at the offices of the Slovenian branch of Unicredit and Sparkasse as well as at Lon and Delavska Hranilnica, according to undisclosed sources.
Abanka and Addiko banks said their offices have not been searched, while Sparkasse refused to comment on the report.
