Santander to Pay €22.5 Million to Settle French Tax Fraud Case

Spanish lender Santander has agreed to pay €22.5 million ($26.18 million) to settle a long-running tax fraud case in France, bringing to a close an investigation that began more than a decade ago, according to Reuters.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the settlement resolves a probe first opened in 2011, after Santander alerted French authorities to possible misconduct at its Paris branch. The investigation later expanded into a judicial case launched in 2013, examining suspected tax fraud, embezzlement and other of violations alleged to have occurred between 2003 and 2010, the news outlet said.

A Santander spokesperson told Reuters that the bank had identified the issues some 15 years ago and reported them to the authorities at the time, framing the settlement as the final step in a long-running clean-up of legacy problems at the Paris operation.

The bank had already set aside provisions to cover the expected cost, so the payment will not affect its current bottom line, according to the report.