Swiss private bank Lombard Odier and one of its former employees have been charged with aggravated money laundering by Switzerland’s federal prosecutor.

Swiss prosecutors on Friday indicted private bank Lombard Odier and one of the firm's former employees for "aggravated money laundering", in a rare charge of such magnitude against one of Switzerland's biggest and oldest wealth managers.

Lombard Odier & Cie and a former employee have been indicted for aggravated money laundering by Swiss prosecutors over their involvement in the long-running bribery scandal linked to the daughter of late Uzbek president Islam Karimov.