Reporter and Dutch investigative media outlet Follow the Money have exposed unexplained delays in a criminal investigation in Monaco, involving bank accounts alleged to contain proceeds of fraud and potentially sanctions evasion.

Based on offshore company documents leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and an exclusive interview with pre-eminent global sanctions campaigner Bill Browder, the article showed that Monaco’s prosecutors were not making progress in a case that suggested banks in the VIP ghetto on the Southern coast of France have long accepted dirty Russian money, connected to the infamous fraud discovered by Sergei Magnitsky, one of Browder’s lawyers.

Browder, who made the original criminal complaint, suspected that some of the money may still be in Monaco, having been transferred through several layers of shell companies in Panama and elsewhere.

Magnitsky died in prison as a result of torture in 2009.

The article, “‘A masterclass in bureaucratic obstruction’: How Monaco is allegedly protecting Russian criminals,” was published in English and Dutch. It is accessible to subscribers.

Two months after the article came out, the EU placed Monaco on its money laundering blacklist.

Representatives of the Monaco government have not returned requests to comment for the article.