RIGA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- A district court in Riga ordered the arrest on Thursday of a private banker as part of an ongoing criminal probe into the laundering of at least 50 million euros (55.1 million U.S. dollars) through Latvian banks, local media reported.
Andris Ovsjannikovs, a former private banker at Latvia's ABLV Bank, which is currently in the process of voluntary self-liquidation, is the second suspect put under arrest in connection with the money laundering case this week.
Prosecutor Dainis Steinbergs said following the court session that Ovsjannikovs was suspected of large-scale money laundering and counterfeiting of documents.
On Wednesday, the district court ordered the arrest of lawyer Andris Putnins, who for a long time had been providing legal advice to entrepreneurs from Belarus.
Latvian law enforcement authorities said that eight persons, all of them currently in Latvia, are being probed for involvement in the money laundering case.
The arrests came after operatives of the organized crime enforcement unit of the Latvian state police and the Corruption Prevention Bureau raided several banks in Latvia, including ABLV Bank, at the beginning of this week.
Documents on the money laundering case suggest that an organized group laundered at least 50 million euros worth of proceeds from criminal activity between 2015 and 2018.
