Case of Latvian ABLV Bank in full swing

Its former owners are accused of “laundering” 2.1 billion euros. They do not admit their guilt. In parallel, the process of returning money to the bank’s creditors is underway. Litigation could drag on for several more years.

The Latvian ABLV Bank was supposed to become a “window to Europe” for residents of the CIS countries, but as a result, it turned out to be a haven for various dubious personalities. The credit institution liquidated in 2018 may be involved in many more scandals related to the bank’s creditors.

One of the scandals is the accusation of banker Andris Ovsyannikov of “laundering” 50 million euros. In addition to ABLV Bank, a certain Daria Terekhina from Belarus and her company Manat participated in the criminal scheme. The banker was arrested, but nothing is known about Terekhin. She may be hiding in Minsk.

Recently, information has appeared that Ovsyannikov and Terekhina are cleaning up the Internet. It is possible that the stuffing of information was special, to divert the attention of investigative journalists from the larger figures for whom the banker and his accomplice worked.

The international network of investigative journalists OCCRP in October 2021 exposed the criminal scheme of the bank.

Currently, the case of ABLV Banka is being considered by a specially created structure – the Latvian Economic Court. Its chairman, Mikelis Zumbergs, last year predicted that the total number of proceedings in the bank could exceed a thousand, and it would take several years to consider them.

Which of the Russians surfaced in the OSS investigationRP?

8 were related to commodity trader Gunvor, which was previously owned by oligarch Gennady Timchenko, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Timchenko has a stake in Novatek, so both his chairman of the board and the largest shareholder, Leonid Mikhelson, can hzikhidtidekrt get dirty.

Timchenko’s business partners are the oligarchs Iskander Makhmudov and Andrey Bokarev, who are considered pro-Kremlin. About the business of Makhmudov and his former subordinate, Maxim Liksutov, the media wrote more than once in Latvia.