Bank involved in money laundering "may collapse"

by **RamblerNash** Sun Feb 25, 2018 12:01 pm

Bank involved in money laundering "may collapse"

25-02-2018 10:08 AM

Baghdad News -

The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned of the risk of the collapse of ABL, Latvia's third-largest bank, following a freeze on charges after Washington accused it of involvement in money laundering.

The ECB said in a statement that 'because of the significant decline in liquidity, it is likely that the bank (ABL) is unable to pay its debts and other obligations with maturity maturity.'

The European Central Bank announced this week that it would freeze its payments to the Latvian bank, a new shock to Latvia's financial sector after central bank governor Ilmars Rimishev was barred from continuing his duties amid accusations of bribery.

"The bank did not have sufficient funds available immediately to carry out the withdrawal of deposits before the deposit deposit fund began to distribute dividends," the statement said.

Link with North Korea

Last week, the US Treasury Department considered ABL to be an "institution of major concern in terms of money laundering," accusing it of being linked to North Korea's weapons program.

In this context, Latvian police announced on Friday that they have begun investigating allegations related to money laundering. But ABL defended itself insisting it had raised 1.36 billion euros ($ 1.67 billion) to support its liquidity.

He explained that this is "quite adequate for the bank to complete the payments and fulfill all its obligations to its customers, but did not give the opportunity to do so for political considerations."

Government action
For his part, Prime Minister of Latvia Maris Kosineskis said that his country has 'taken steps' to combat money laundering in recent days, but acknowledged that the procedures were 'not enough' to end this practice in the financial sector.

"The relevant entities in Latvia work closely with each other and with our international partners, including the European Central Bank and the United States," he was quoted as saying by the BNS news service.

"I am convinced of the stability of the financial sector in Latvia and the ability to take major steps to ensure that the banking sector maintains its reputation."

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