ECB’s Rimsevics to Face Corruption Trial in Latvia in November

(Bloomberg) -- The criminal case against Latvian central bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevics will hold its first hearing in a Riga court in November, about a month before his term of office expires, the Leta news service reported, citing a court calendar.

Rimsevics, a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, was detained by the Baltic nation’s anti-corruption bureau in February 2018, and later charged by prosecutors with bribery and money laundering. He denies all wrongdoing and has blamed a group of commercial banks for the case.

The case was part of a dirty money storm that hit the euro-area country’s financial system in 2018, coming shortly after the U.S. Treasury accused the third-biggest bank of laundering, sparking its demise. Rimsevics was suspended from his role as central bank governor and forbidden to travel, bringing a legal challenge by the ECB that saw him reinstated. He now attends meetings in Frankfurt.

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins wants to hold an open competition to find the next central bank chief. Rimsevics has been either governor or deputy governor of the bank since 1992.

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, Michael Winfrey

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