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February 23, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Latvia's triple-decker page-turner
leased – without a formal charge against him but with KNAB saying he is being investigated on sus- picion of soliciting a €100,000 bribe from persons unknown but “unconnected with any commercial bank curently operating in Latvia,” (prompting as- sumptions it may be the now defunct Trasta bank)
In what may or may not be a coincidence, Rim- sevics was hauled in almost as soon as Maris Spruds, a prominent figure within the world of bankruptcy administrators (a sector with an ex- tremely dubious reputation) walked out of custody on bail of €500,000 as part of another bribery case involving Trasta. Another businessman and asso- ciate of the governor, Maris Martinsons, who runs an instant loan company, was arrested shortly before Rimsevics and subsequently released as part of the same investigation.
But these events were merely the introductory preface to the dramatic action of February 19
and 20 on which, in rapid succession, the Anglo- Russian owner of Norvik bank [full disclosure: bneIntellinews has an account with the bank] Grigory Guselnikov named Rimsevics as the of- ficial who had solicited another bribe of €100,000 per month. Norvik was already taking Latvia to in- ternational arbitration, claiming unfair treatment, but until that point had never named the official it accused.
Guselnikov's accusation came in a sensational Associated Press story which gave another major plot twist by saying that Rimsevics had made mul- tiple low-key visits to Russia during which he had hung out with figures connected to the Kremlin and asking if there might be security implications for a senior official with access to state secrets
in a Nato member state. An accompanying pho- tograph showed Rimsevics looking moderately uncomfortable among a gang of laughing Russian fishermen.
So it was with a sense of great anticipation that journalists gathered for Rimsevics' press confer- ence at midday February 20 on a rooftop terrace overlooking the spires of Riga's old town as the bells chimed ominously in the background.
The press pack, it must be admitted, were not entirely sorry to see Rimsevics in a tight spot:
he generally treats the press with high-handed disdain and occasionally likes to indulge in thinly- veiled mockery of their lack of economic exper- tise. He does, after all, have a degree from a two-year course at St Lawrence University in the US and an MBA from Clarkson University, which ranks as high as 124 among US universities. The reaction from pretty much anyone who has ever interviewed Rimsevics to the news of his detention was the same: “Couldn't happen to a nicer guy”.
Unlikeable and out of touch
Recent appearances on Latvian Radio and at a meet the public event in the northern town of Valmiera were typical: not a word about non-res- ident banks, plenty about increased productivity and controlling wages (he is one of the highest- paid officials in the country) and seeming surprise that the great unwashed were themselves more keen to talk about how they struggle to get by using loosely-regulated and exploitative payday loans (the above-mentioned Martinsons runs an instant loan company). However, being unlikeable and out of touch with ordinary folk is not evidence of guilt.
But back to our story. A conventional scandal narrative at this point would have had Rimsevics briefly denying the allegations then saying that with a heavy heart after 17 years in the job he
was temporarily standing aside to clear his name. Instead we got him saying “I'm not stepping down because I'm not guilty,” denying all accusations against him and going on the counter-offensive by accusing Guselnikov and Norvik of orchestrating an attempt to unseat him (in cahoots with another lender, ABLV bank, but that is a parallel sub-plot we do not have room for here) because Norvik is losing money and wants to squeeze money from