RIGA, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Latvian law enforcement authorities on Thursday laid graft charges against the head of the Baltic country's central bank in a corruption case related to the liquidation of Latvia's Trasta Komercbanka bank.
The Latvian Prosecutor General's Office said in a press release that a decision was made on June 28 to charge Bank of Latvia Governor Ilmars Rimsevics with graft.
Entrepreneur Maris Martinsons who was also probed in the same corruption case has been charged with aiding and abetting graft, his lawyer Didzis Vilemsons informed.
On June 18, the Latvian anti-graft agency, the Corruption Prevention Bureau, forwarded the case against Rimsevics and Martinsons to the Prosecutor General's Office, initiating their prosecution.
Latvian public television reported earlier that Rimsevics had allegedly exerted pressure on the national banking regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission, in order to influence its decisions concerning Trasta Komercbanka.
Martinsons reportedly acted as a middleman arranging the deal between Rimsevics and Trasta Komercbanka.
Rimsevics is suspected of soliciting and accepting a bribe of at least 100,000 euros (116,000 U.S. dollars), according to reports. Martinsons is another suspect in the case. Both of them were briefly detained in February as part of a bribery probe conducted by the anti-corruption bureau.
Rimsevics has been consistently denying the accusations and refuses to step down as head of the Latvian central bank although he has been banned from doing his job. His deputy Zoja Razmusa is currently serving as the bank's acting head.
Rimsevics claims he has become the victim of a coordinated attack of some commercial banks involved in nonresident business.
