Banker: "Nightmare" dodging extortion attempts in Latvia
LONDON — Latvia’s top banking official, a key member of the European Central Bank, has been accused by local bank Norvik of seeking kickbacks, trying to launder Russian money and retaliating against the bank when it refused to play by the “rules of the game.”
In a high-stakes drama for the tiny Baltic country, Ilmars Rimsevics was detained Saturday by Latvian anti-corruption authorities and questioned for hours into the night. State TV showed him walking free on Monday, without charges, though he is still being investigated for suspected bribery.
Norvik bank has filed an international legal complaint against Latvia in which it alleges that a “Senior Latvian Official” repeatedly sought “to extort monetary bribes,” and threatened the bank when its owner and chairman, Grigory Guselnikov, refused to pay up.
“The high-level official mentioned in our request for arbitration is Rimsevics,” Norvik’s CEO, Oliver Bramwell, told The Associated Press. Guselnikov confirmed that it was Rimsevics.