The tiny principality of Andorra nestling in the foothills of the Pyrenees between France and Spain has been rocked by allegations of money laundering in its oversized banking sector. Andorra conjures up images of medieval churches and duty-free shopping. However, in the last three weeks the state has been gripped by a banking crisis that threatens to take it to the brink. Bankers have been thrown in jail, savers’ deposits have been restricted, and the country’s government is scrambling to convince powerful regulators thousands of miles away that the country is not a haven for tax evasion. In March the US Treasury Department’s financial crime body, FinCEN, accused the country’s fourth-largest bank of money-laundering. The authority said ‘corrupt high-level managers and weak anti-money-laundering controls have made BPA an easy vehicle for third-party money-launderers’. The bank accepted bribes from criminals in Russia, Venezuela and China to funnel money through the Andorran system. Banking is Andorra's second biggest industry after tourism