RIGA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Latvian prosecution said on Wednesday that they have brought criminal charges against 11 suspects in the probe into crimes committed during the windup of Latvia's Trasta Komercbanka bank.
The suspects, including former insolvency lawyers, entrepreneurs, an ex-politician and a judge, are facing charges of organized extortion, embezzlement, abuse of office powers, gross negligence and organized money laundering, said the prosecution.
Restrictive measures are also being imposed on two legal entities in connection with the probe.
In January 2017, the economic crime unit of the Latvian state police launched a criminal investigation based on reports that two insolvency lawyers and four other persons had been extorting money from the bank's shareholders by offering them to help retrieve their assets from the bank in exchange for a certain amount of money. Later, they laundered the extorted money, the investigation established.
Trasta Komercbanka lost its license in March 2016 after the Latvian banking regulator accused the bank of serious violations, including a systematic failure to meet supervisory requirements and breaches of anti-money laundering laws.
