Commonwealth Bank of Australia slapped with class-action suit

Sydney

COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia was hit on Tuesday with potentially Australia's biggest class-action lawsuit over a money-laundering scandal that has already smashed its share price and exposed it to billions of dollars in fines.

Litigation financier IMF Bentham Ltd said it would fund the lawsuit against Australia's biggest bank, accusing it of making false and misleading statements and failing to disclose breaches of anti-money laundering rules for years.

A second lawsuit against the A$128 billion (S$138 billion) lender, on top of one filed on Aug 3 by financial intelligence agency Austrac alleging breaches of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, is fuelling investor concerns that the scandal …