Investigation into the Ūkio Bank: Prosecutors are clarifying whether money has been washed through it

The Lithuania Tribune

Questions have arisen over whether money that was stolen from the Russian budget has been washed through Ūkio Bank, lrytas.lt reported on 25 September. After appeals by the Great Britain fund “Hermitage Capital”, Lithuanian prosecutors are trying to determine if this has happened. It is argued that illegal transactions took place in 2008. The pathways of stolen money have been investigated by the lawyer of Hermitage Capital, Sergej Magnitsky, who died in November 2009 in a Russian prison. Western media has alleged that S. Magnitsky was tortured and later killed.

The General Prosecutor’s Office received a referral by email from Hermitage Capital on July 31th, and launched a preliminary study the following day. According to head Prosector of the General’s Office Communications Division, Vilma Žemaitytė, “They [Hermitage Capital] claim that through the Ukio Bank accounts money washings had been made in Lithuania.”

The investigation was launched under the Criminal Code, Article 216 paragraph 1. This article punishes “illegally acquired money or property legalization”. The penalty associated with such a violation can entail imprisonment of up to seven years.

So far, the amount of money that could be flushed through the Ukio Bank has not been revealed. Latvian media report that the country’s bankers are suspected of similar transactions involving the washing of 20 million USD dollars (current exchange rate – approximately 50 million dollars).

On September 12, the investigation was transferred to the Kaunas County prosecutor’s office, where the headquarters of Ukio Bank is located. The District Prosecutor’s Office has yet to appoint an officer who will lead the investigation.

Ukio Bank sent the following comment to portal lrytas.lt on 25 September : “In reply to your question, please be informed that both of your mentioned Hermitage Capital and Sergei Magnitsky have never been Agriculture Bank customers, so we do not have any information to comment on any of the investigations related with these persons.”

This summer, Hermitage Capital turned to prosecutors’ offices in six different countries asking them to freeze bank accounts through which potentially stolen money might have been travelling in 2008. Hermitage has launched similar accusations against banks of the three Baltic countries as well as Austria, Cyprus, and Finland. hairy girls займы онлайн на карту срочно https://zp-pdl.com/online-payday-loans-in-america.php https://zp-pdl.com/how-to-get-fast-payday-loan-online.php срочный займ на карту