A murder plot trial involving a Latvian businessman and his associate has begun in Riga, shedding light on the dark history of money-laundering in the country’s banking system.
The victim uncovered evidence of financial crimes
The victim, Martins Bunkus, was an insolvency lawyer who had discovered evidence of money-laundering at LPB bank, a financial institution partly owned by the businessman, Mihails Ulmans. He had reported his findings to the Latvian authorities and was in charge of liquidating another company linked to Mr Ulmans and his associate, Aleksandrs Babenko.
Bunkus survived one assassination attempt in 2016, but was killed by a sniper in 2018 while driving his car in a busy street. The killer had hidden a Kalashnikov rifle under a tent on a trailer and fired at least seven shots at Mr Bunkus’s vehicle.
Ulmans and Babenko were arrested in 2022, four years after the murder, and have been in custody since then. They deny any involvement in the crime and claim their rights have been violated by the prolonged detention.
The prosecution alleges that they paid €300,000 (£258,550) to hire a hitman to eliminate Bunkus. A third defendant, a Russian national, is accused of being the shooter.
The trial is being conducted by a judge without a jury, as is common practice in Latvia. The defendants appeared in court via video link from prison on the first day of the trial, which concluded on Saturday.
The case exposes the shady past of Latvia’s banking sector
The case has drawn attention to the past problems of money-laundering and corruption in Latvia’s banking sector, which has been under scrutiny by international regulators and watchdogs.
In 2018, the US Treasury accused ABLV, Latvia’s third-largest bank, of various offences including breaching sanctions and facilitating money-laundering. The bank went into voluntary liquidation shortly after.
In the same year, LPB bank, which was partly owned by Ulmans, was fined €2.2m (£1.9m) for failing to resolve regulatory issues dating back to 2016. The bank was also involved in several scandals related to its clients and transactions.
Latvia has since introduced wide-ranging reforms to improve its anti-money-laundering framework and to prevent the inflow of illicit funds, mainly from Russia. The country’s central bank and commercial banks have also taken steps to enhance their compliance and transparency standards.
However, some experts warn that more needs to be done to restore trust and confidence in Latvia’s banking system, which accounts for a significant part of its economy.