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Try as He Might, ECB's Rimsevics Can't Brush Aside Bribery Case

Try as He Might, ECB's Rimsevics Can't Brush Aside Bribery Case

(Bloomberg) -- As much as Latvia’s central bank governor would like to return to business as usual, there’s no escaping the bribery charges hanging over him -- even in a discussion about the Baltic nation’s economic prospects.

Ilmars Rimsevics, who sits on the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, held his first news conference in more than a year on Friday, ostensibly about inflation and growth. But before he’d even got through his opening remarks, a woman unfurled a poster asking “Have you no shame?”

More questions followed on his criminal case, which is awaiting trial and is part of a storm of bad news to hit Latvia last year. Prosecutors revealed this week that they’d added the charge of laundering the 250,000 euros ($282,000) in bribes he’s accused of accepting from a bank that was later closed.

Rimsevics, once again, said he was innocent. He claims a coordinated campaign against him means he has no chance of continuing in the job he’s held since 2001 when his term expires in December.

“I haven’t done anything illegal,” reiterated Rimsevics, who’s still giving testimony to prosecutors. “At the moment, I haven’t been shown any evidence” of the allegations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley

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