Latvia central bank chief indicted for alleged bribery

RIGA: Latvian prosecutors on Friday said they had charged the Baltic eurozone member's suspended central bank chief with taking bribes of half a million euros, which the banker has flatly denied.

Long-time central bank chief Ilmars Rimsevics has refused to resign but has been suspended from his duties at the Bank of Latvia and the board of the European Central Bank since suspicion was first cast on him in February.

Prosecutor Viorika Jirgena told reporters in Riga that two unnamed shareholders of Trasta Komercbanka, a Latvia-based Moldovan operation shut down in 2016 for money laundering and fraud, alleged that Rimsevics had requested a bribe in exchange for keeping it afloat.

The allegations date back to 2012, Jirgena said, and involve Latvian businessman Maris Martinsons, who was also charged as an intermediary.

Prosecutors allege Rimsevics demanded 500,000 euros ($580,000) to persuade Latvia's Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) to turn a blind eye to the allegations against Trasta Komercbanka.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged in March that between 2011-14 shell companies used Komercbanka to launder around $13 billion in proceeds from corruption and fraud in Moldova.

"Rimsevics was unable to fully deliver what he had promised, hence he was paid only half: the 250,000 euros," Jirgena told reporters.

"Martinsons was a middleman, who received 10 percent of the total amount. The bribe was delivered in cash," she said, adding that "phones were wiretapped" in the probe.

Rimsevics and Martinsons face up to 11 years behind bars if found guilty.

Both men have asked to have until August to provide written statements.

Rimsevics insists he is not guilty and refuses to leave his posts and has complained to the European Court of Justice over his suspension.

Two shareholders were initially arraigned in the case as bribe-givers, but the charges against them were later dropped as they voluntarily reported the corruption to the authorities.

Latvia has been scrambling to reform its banking sector after a string of high profile corruption and money laundering allegations.

Most notably, US authorities in February accused ABLV, the third-largest lender, of large-scale money laundering with connections to North Korea's nuclear weapons development programme.