Latvian court rules to take $30 mln illegally acquired by ex-officials in Ukraine – PGO
The Riga Regional Court has ruled that of over $30 million, which are related to former Ukrainian officials, have been acquired illegally and that they have to be transferred from a bank to the Latvian state budget, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has said.
"These funds were blocked at the beginning of 2015 under request of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine for rendering a legal assistance. The issue of returning criminal assets to Ukraine will be resolved at the intergovernmental level," the press service said on Tuesday.
Representative of the Latvian Office of Prosecutor General Laura Majevska told BNS agency that on October 14, the board of judges of the criminal cases of the Riga Regional Court cancelled the decision of the court of previous instance and ruled EUR 29 million as illegally acquired.
The money is currently in the accounts of a non-resident at the Latvian commercial bank AS Reģionālā Investīciju Banka, she said.
Criminal proceedings were launched in 2016 over the legalization of criminally acquired funds in large amounts, by using the accounts of several non-residents, opened at the AS Reģionālā Investīciju Banka. A pre-trial investigation over the case is ongoing and is conducted by the Economic Police of the Latvian State Police.