Following the decision of the European Central Bank (ECB) to freeze the payments made by the Latvian bank ABLV and accusations of corruption concerning the governor of the Latvian Central bank (see EUROPE 11964), a reaction from the former Latvian Prime Minister and current European Commissioner for Financial Services, Valdis Dombrovskis, was eagerly awaited.
At a press conference on Tuesday 20 February, he stressed the clear division of competences between the supervision of banks and the framework to tackle money-laundering, the latter being principally a matter for the national authorities.
Even so, the EU is following the situation closely, he said, adding: “of course, there is a damage for reputation first and foremost for Latvia and we expect the national enforcement authorities will address the issue swiftly”.
The French minister, Bruno Le Maire, for his part, reiterated France's earlier warnings as to the risks related to the practices of certain Latvian banks. Readers may recall that in 2013, some of them were suspected of being money-laundering hubs, due in particular to high levels of Russian deposits (see EUROPE 10901).
On the same day, the governor of the central bank, Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, who is suspected of corruption and who was taken into custody on Sunday, said that he did not intend to resign at this stage, despite urgent calls from the Latvian Prime Minister for him to do so. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)