Bernis and other former ABLV Bank managers charged with tax evasion

RIGA - The Prosecution Office has sent to a Riga city court a criminal case against former managers of ABLV Bank, which is currently under liquidation, LETA learned.

According to the publicly available court calendar, defendants in the case include the bank's former co-owner Ernests Biernis, former board member Vadims Reinfelds, as well as persons formerly associated with the bank - Zane Kurzemniece, Marks Spungins and Arvis Steinbergs. The first court hearing has been scheduled for November 6, 2025.

Four persons in the case have been charged with tax evasion committed in an organized group, causing large losses to the state. One person has been charged with tax evasion causing large losses to the state, according to a public statement of the prosecutor's office.

Evidence obtained during the pre-trial investigation suggest that board members of a now defunct bank formed an organized group, involving also other persons, including a person involved trade in offshore firms.

Concealing the bank's involvement in the deals, the organized group ensured the acquisition and sale of offshore companies from and to the bank's clients, the indictment says. Between 2012 and 2018, the organized group received a total of EUR 53.028 million in proceeds from trading and maintenance of foreign companies for the bank's clients, which was not declared to the State Revenue Service. As a result, the prosecution estimates that the state suffered a loss of more than EUR 5.532 million from the scheme.

Moreover, the person, who was engaged in trading and maintenance of offshore companies, also concealed their proceeds from this business, failed to declare them to the Revenue Service and transferred the money to the bank accounts of three companies under their control between 2011 and 2018. As a result, the person avoided to pay EUR 5.041 million in taxes, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

As part of the criminal proceedings, law enforcement authorities have seized more than EUR 5 million worth of real estate and more than EUR 5 million worth of financial assets, most of which were seized from a credit institution in Luxembourg.

As reported, in February 2023, the Economics Affairs Court started hearing a criminal case on laundering EUR 2.1 billion via ABLV Bank in a period of several years from May 2010 until February 2018.

Eight persons are accused in the money laundering case in an organized group. Five of them were officials in the bank - former bank's co-owner Ernests Bernis, former board member Vadims Reinfelds, Aleksandrs Paze and bank employees Igors Rogovs and Dreimanis.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.