The prosecutor’s office has submitted a new criminal case to a court of law in Latvia. In it multiple former ABLV Bank managing employees are accused of laundering EUR 2.1 billion. The court will also review the procedure regarding the imposition of a coercive measure on this credit institution.
Eight people are accused of large-scale money laundering, as reported by the prosecutor’s office.
The pre-trial investigation found that the organised group had created and used available infrastructure to launder illegally obtained funds worth no less than EUR 263 538 182 and USD 1 948641 between 1 May 2010 and 15 February 2018.
Five of the accused persons were working in managing posts in the bank at the time when criminal acts were being committed. According to information from LETA,
these include the bank’s former co-owner Ernests Bernis, former deputy chairman of the board Vadims Reinfelds, well as well as Aleksandrs Pāže, Igors Rogovs and Kaspars Dreimanis.
The criminal case was submitted to the Court of Economic Affairs.
Problems for ABLV Bank started when US Department of Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced in February 2018 its plans to establish sanctions against ABLV Bank for money laundering schemes that had assisted with North Korea’s nuclear arms programme, as well as illegal activities in Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine.
To ensure maximum protection of clients’ and creditors’ interests, and considering the decision by ECB on allowing commencement of the liquidation process, ABLV Bank’s shareholders decided at a meeting on 26 February to commence self-liquidation.