According to LTV, the investigations took palce yesterday but are not linked to the ABLV bank case which seized the headlines.
? LTV rīcībā esošā informācija liecina, ka vakar @Valsts_policija veikusi izmeklēšanas darbības vairākās nerezidentu bankās Latvijā. Notikušais nav saistīts ar plaši izskanējušo "ABLV Bank" lietu. pic.twitter.com/xerQCdGSuV
— LTV Panorama (@ltvpanorama) January 29, 2020
Subsequently, LTV reported that the banks involved were Rietumu Bank, Industra Bank (which until last week was known as Meridian Trade Bank), BlueOrange Bank and Regional Investment Bank, and that the investigations were being conducted in cooperation with police in Germany.
Industra Bank confirmed to LTV that investigators had visited them this week. The bank said it provided documentary confirmations of individual transactions of interest to law enforcement agencies.
BlueOrange Bank told LTV that the law enforcement proceedings were being conducted against one bank customer. Neither the bank nor its employees are involved, it said.
Regional Investment Bank on the other hand denied that any investigative activities had been carried out and stated that it was operating as usual.
According to LTV, the investigative activities could be linked to the major Deutsche Bank money laundering scandal. In 2018, German police conducted a search of Deutsche Bank on suspicion of money laundering. At the time, it was suspected that bank employees were helping clients to transfer the proceeds of crime via offshore companies. The investigation started after the publication of the so-called Panama Papers in 2016.
