UPDATE 1-Sweden decides against investigating Swedbank over Browder complaint

The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said on Monday it had decided against opening an investigation into Swedbank over a criminal complaint brought by Bill Browder, an investor campaigning to expose money laundering.

Swedbank has become caught up in a money laundering scandal and the company fired its chief executive last week after disgruntled investors rounded on her handling of the crisis. Browder, who founded Hermitage Capital and was once the biggest foreign money manager in Russia, had filed a complaint on March 4 to the Swedish authorities over Swedbank's alleged link to the Baltic money laundering scandal involving Danske Bank.

Browder's complaint alleged that Swedbank accounts had been used to launder money to the tune of $176 million between 2006 and 2012. The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said it had decided to not to proceed with Browder's complaint as the transfers involving accounts in Sweden were limited and had occurred before tighter money laundering legislation was introduced in 2014.

The statute of limitations on bringing cases in relation to these transactions had also expired, it said. "In view of the above, prosecutors at the Gothenburg Economic Authority have decided not to initiate a preliminary investigation," the Swedish Economic Crime Authority said in a statement.

Swedbank and Browder did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests to comment. (Reporting by Esha Vaish, editing by Niklas Pollard and Jane Merriman)