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Saturday, 07.09.2024, 00:36
Bank of Lithuania to look into additional info on VIA SMS Group
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"The
Bank's Supervision Service followed all procedures stipulated by legal acts and
thoroughly analyzed all information provided by the company in question at the
time and also turned to other competent institutions before issuing an
electronic money institution license to the company. Additional information
will be analyzed and evaluated," the central bank told.
The Bank of
Lithuania issued an electronic money institution license to Via Payments (operating under the Vialet brand), part of VIA SMS Group, last October. Vialet is set to start operations in
Lithunaia in the fall.
BC reported
earlier that, VIA SMS Group's
specialized bank FinnQ is entering
Lithuania, becoming the first specialized bank in the country.
VIA SMS LT, a payday loan company owned by VIA SMS Group also used to operate in
Lithuania, but it seized operations last July.
Anusauskas says FinnQ CEO and board member Denis Sherstyukov was a member of the Parex council and is a former business partner of Parex owner Valery Kargin's son. Moreover, former Parex owner Viktor Krasovitsky's son Georgy serves on VIA SMS Group's council. He worked at Parex in 2004-2008 and was responsible for the expansion of lseasing and factoring services in CIS countries.
"Sherstyukov
also has political ties with Nils Usakovs'
Harmony Centre which has an official
cooperation agreement with Vladimir
Putin's United Russia. Parex bank has been linked to various
scandals, even with the Russian Tambov mafia group, and the Panama Papers scandal revealed that the
bank issued a 100 million-dolar loan to Russian company Severneft CEO Zhan
Khudainatov. This unpaid loan reportedly had major impact on Parex bank's collapse," Anusauskas
said.
In his
words, Khudainatov's brother Eduard head Nezavisimaya
Neftyanaya Kompaniya (Independent Oil
Company) which has been sanctioned by the United States foe cooperation
with the North Korean regime.
Late last
year, Latvian company Financial
Investment owns 50% of VIA SMS Group,
and Sherstyukov had 31% and Krasovitsky owns 19%.
In 2014, VIA SMS Group issued bond on the Nasdaq Baltic stock exchange, and its
turnover stood at around 20 mln euros last year.