Banks, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

The prosecutor's office said earlier that there are eights persons involved in the case, but did not reveal their status - whether they are detained persons or persons against whom a criminal procedure has been launched. All these persons are in Latvia, said Laura Majevska, a spokeswoman of the prosecutor's office.

Majevska said that the prosecutor's office now is working with the materials seized during searches on Tuesday.

The prosecutor's office reported on Tuesday that at least 20 searches were conducted in Latvia and also in Belarus.

The prosecutor's office will not release further information for the time being so as not to impede the investigation.

The Latvian public television said on Tuesday evening that ABLV Bank's shareholder Ernests Bernis has been interviewed by the law enforcement authorities, but no status has been assigned to him, according to Bernis' lawyer Janis Karklins. The lawyer claims that the case is possibly related with some foreign customers of ABLV Bank which is currently undergoing liquidation process.

As reported, on Tuesday, officers from the Specialized Prosecution Office for Organized Crime and Other Branches, Corruption Prevention Bureau, the State Police's Organized Crime Department, the State Revenue Service's Tax and Customs Board, and the Financial and Capital Market Commission carried out a number of procedural actions, including at least 20 searches in Latvia and, in cooperation with foreign authorities, in Belarus.

The materials in the criminal case contain information about an organized group of nationals from several countries who carried out money laundering in the amount of at least EUR 50,000,000 between 2015 and 2018, including by making transfers to one of the credit institutions of Latvia for transactions that actually did not take place.

The crimes committed by the organized group were supported by the unnamed credit institution, which is currently undergoing liquidation procedures, and its employees who eliminated obstacles to the transfer of funds, investigators believe.

It was also reported that officers of the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) were searching the premises of ABLV Bank, which is currently in the process of liquidation.