{"id":598,"date":"2018-07-06T14:01:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-06T14:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=598"},"modified":"2018-07-06T15:55:07","modified_gmt":"2018-07-06T15:55:07","slug":"governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>European Central Bank governing council member and Bank of Latvia governor Ilmars Rimsevics has been accused of accepting bribes from shareholders of Trasta Komercbanka. This follows the closing of Latvia\u2019s third-largest bank, ABLV, after it was accused of money laundering.<\/p>\n<p>These events have cast a negative light on the country as well as the European Central Bank, which oversaw ABLV and has protested Rimsevics\u2019s removal from his post. Latvian state prosecutor Viorika Jirgena <a href=\"https:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/worldNews\/idAFKBN1JP25Y\">stated<\/a> that Rimsevic began taking bribes in 2010, when shareholders of struggling bank Trasta Komercbanka paid for his vacation to Kamchatka, in return for his aiding them with responses to questions posed by the country\u2019s bank regulator. Two years later, the shareholders needed Rimsevics\u2019s influence within this agency, known as the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC), in order to prevent Trasta Komercbanka from closing. Jirgena said that they paid him half of 500,000 euros in advance, with the other half following a favorable decision by the FCMC. However, Rimsevics was unable to prevent the FCMC from accusing the bank of money laundering, resulting in its closing in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>While his position as central bank governor grants him the power to suggest a head for the FCMC, as well as attend its meetings, a spokesperson for the agency stated that he could not have influenced the decision regarding Trasta Komercbanka, because \u201cthe FCMC performs its work as an autonomous public institution and adopts its decisions independently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The failed bank\u2019s shareholders refused to pay Rimsevics his second installment, and instead willingly provided evidence of the bribe to anti-corruption investigators in order to avoid prosecution. Rimsevics <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9338de30-7aca-11e8-bc55-50daf11b720d\">claims<\/a> that these accusations had been conjured up by banks that were displeased with his attempts to increase transparency in offshore banking.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury issued a Section 311 action under the USA Patriot Act against ABLV for its failure to implement proper AML\/CFT systems. The IELR article on the action can be found <a href=\"http:\/\/ielr.com\/content\/us-treasury-imposes-section-311-measures-against-latvia%E2%80%99s-2nd-largest-bank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>European Central Bank governing council member and Bank of Latvia governor Ilmars Rimsevics has been accused of accepting bribes from shareholders of Trasta Komercbanka. This follows the closing of Latvia\u2019s third-largest bank, ABLV, after it was accused of money laundering. These events have cast a negative light on the country as well as the European [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-transnational-corruption-money-laundering-and-asset-forfeiture","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"European Central Bank governing council member and Bank of Latvia governor Ilmars Rimsevics has been accused of accepting bribes from shareholders of Trasta Komercbanka. This follows the closing of Latvia\u2019s third-largest bank, ABLV, after it was accused of money laundering. These events have cast a negative light on the country as well as the European [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yasmin Chaudhary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ielr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ielr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yasmin Chaudhary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Yasmin Chaudhary\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319\"},\"headline\":\"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":338,\"commentCount\":1,\"articleSection\":[\"Transnat'l Corruption, Money Laundering &amp; Asset Forfeiture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2018\\\/07\\\/06\\\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"IELR Blog\",\"description\":\"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319\",\"name\":\"Yasmin Chaudhary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Yasmin Chaudhary\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ielrblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/ychaudhary\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog","og_description":"European Central Bank governing council member and Bank of Latvia governor Ilmars Rimsevics has been accused of accepting bribes from shareholders of Trasta Komercbanka. This follows the closing of Latvia\u2019s third-largest bank, ABLV, after it was accused of money laundering. These events have cast a negative light on the country as well as the European [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/","og_site_name":"IELR Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/intlenforcementlawreporter\/?ref=bookmarks","article_published_time":"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00","author":"Yasmin Chaudhary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ielr","twitter_site":"@ielr","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Yasmin Chaudhary","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/"},"author":{"name":"Yasmin Chaudhary","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319"},"headline":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes","datePublished":"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/"},"wordCount":338,"commentCount":1,"articleSection":["Transnat'l Corruption, Money Laundering &amp; Asset Forfeiture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/","name":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes | IELR Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-06T14:01:02+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-06T15:55:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/06\/governor-of-latvian-central-bank-accused-of-taking-bribes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Governor of Latvian Central Bank Accused of Taking Bribes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/","name":"IELR Blog","description":"Official Blog of the International Enforcement Law Reporter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/96c812cd698f638cab4435814715d319","name":"Yasmin Chaudhary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7dad38349fa9b4850de542eb00dbb2ddce15a7e9325c6a7e4d5490452ff772c4?s=96&d=monsterid&r=g","caption":"Yasmin Chaudhary"},"url":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/author\/ychaudhary\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pas6ng-9E","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":601,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598\/revisions\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}