The offer by Jean-Philippe Iliesco de Grimaldi for a two-thirds stake in Bankas Snoras "was an attempt by Russian and international mafia to launder money," Mecys Laurinkus, director general of the State Security Department, told reporters on May 16.
"The origin of the largest part of the potential investor's resources is not proved by legal documents. We may state that based on the documents provided to the Bank of Lithuania de Grimaldi does not have enough funds of his own to implement the planned investment project. Lithuania is not a place for transactions of money of unclear origin."
Laurinkius rubbished de Grimal-di's claim to be a member of Mona-co's royal family, a claim earlier played up by Jefim Borodulin, chairman of Snoras' supervisory board, in comments to the media.
De Grimaldi's father was in fact born in a provincial town in Romania, said Laurinkus.
But Laurinkus added that he was not making accusations against de Grimaldi himself or against the heads of Snoras Bank.
The decision to halt the deal could have implications for Deloitte and Touche auditing company's Vilnius office, which had given it a positive appraisal. Juozas Kabasinskas, who heads the company's Vilnius division, is also a member of Snoras' supervisory council.
The investigation involved close cooperation with the British Embassy in Vilnius and the intelligence agencies of foreign countries - including the United States and Russia, according to unofficial reports.
The sum de Grimaldi offered for what is Lithuania's fourth largest bank was almost equal to the total sum invested annually in Lithuania from abroad. At 1.34 billion litas Snoras would have had the largest stock capital of any bank in the Baltic countries."If de Grimaldi proves the legality of this money, we can consider this issue again. But it is up to him to prove it, not us," Bank of Lithuania President Reinoldijus Sarkinas told reporters.
According to Lithuanian weekly magazine Ekstra the offer for the stake in Snoras was actually submitted by Tigran Makarian, son-in-law of Alexander Gliklad, a businessman resident in the United States with Israeli and Russian citizenship.
Gliklad is a director of the Luxembourg-registered Incorion Investment Holdings Company, which bought a 49.9 percent stake in Snoras in 1997, according to Lietuvos Rytas and Lietuvos Zinios daily newspapers.
Borodulin earlier told Ekstra that Gliklad was his "good friend."
According to Lietuvos Rytas approaches were made to Gliklad to invest in Snoras as early as 1997 by Sergei Klimuk, then the bank's main shareholder and another controversial businessman Dovydas Kaplanas.
Responding to the accusations on May 17 Raimondas Baranaus-kas, chairman of Snoras' management board, thanked the State Security Service.
"A commercial bank has no such opportunities to check the origin of investments. Snoras Bank should remain a transparent bank," said Baranauskas.
He said he hoped the central bank would change its decision if sufficient proof of the legitimacy of the investment was produced.
Snoras would continue to work as usual, Baranauskas added. "Nothing has happened."
Compared to neighboring Lat-via Lithuania's banking sector has few connections to the unpredictable markets of countries to the east in the Commonwealth of Independent States and regulators are inclined to take a hard look at any such relations.
Snoras is therefore regarded as a black sheep.
Gliklad has boasted to Lithua-nian media of his close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and was a business partner of Russian MP Yosif Kobzon, who is currently banned from entering the United States and is referred to by the international media as a mafia "godfather."
For his part Borodulin earlier told Lithuanian media he was proud to be a friend of famous Russian businessman Boris Bere-zovsky, who is in trouble with the Russian authorities and lives in London.
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