Rietumu Banka, АО

History

2025

Nationalization of Rietumu-owned companies that are building the Maryino Quarter in Moscow

In December 2025, the court satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation on the transfer of four companies and their assets to the state on the territory of New Moscow. We are talking about the structures "Airplane-Maryino-1," "Airplane-Maryino-2," "Airplane-Maryino-3" and "Airplane-Maryino-4," which own land with a total area of ​ ​ more than 137 hectares in Maryino. Read more here.

The court seized real estate in Moscow from Rietumu Banka. Among the objects - "Novomoskovsky Technopark"

On December 2, 2025, the City Arbitration Court Moscow satisfied the claim Prosecutor General's Office and recovered states the assets of the Latvian Rietumu Banka, including 13 Russian real estate companies. Among them are Novomoskovskiy Technopark (formerly Maryinskaya Poultry Farm) and a number of companies of the Samolet-Maryino development group.

According to a RIA Novosti source familiar with the closed court session, initially the claims concerned a loan agreement between Rietumu Banka and KI Invest LLC, which owns more than 1.24 hectares of land and over 13.8 thousand square meters. m of real estate in Moscow and the Moscow region.

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Фото: Bloomberg

The Prosecutor General's Office demanded to invalidate the transfer of more than 105 million rubles to the bank under this agreement, as well as apply the consequences of the invalidity of transactions: to turn 100% of KI Invest's shares into Russian revenue and recover the disputed amount of money.

According to the plaintiff's position, Rietumu Banka organized a scheme to withdraw income received from asset leases abroad, bypassing anti-sanction restrictions in force in Russia. According to a RIA Novosti source, this scheme was based on a 2016 loan agreement, the maturity of obligations under which was extended until 2030.

Payments under this agreement were made in such a way that the main debt did not decrease, but increased, which, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, did not make economic sense and served exclusively for the withdrawal of capital. As a result, from 2022 to 2024, 105 292 317 rubles were sent abroad.

In October 2025, the Prosecutor General's Office clarified the lawsuit, expanding the requirements and insisting on the recovery of another 12 legal entities in favor of the state. The lawsuit was satisfied in full.

The court took additional interim measures. To the already arrested assets of KI Invest, four land plots belonging to the new co-defendants in the Moscow region with a total area of ​ ​ over 3.5 hectares, a Moscow apartment, a private house, a commercial building and an unfinished facility in Barvikha were added. In total, assets worth about 30 billion rubles were collected in state revenue.^[1][2]

Seizure of property

The Moscow Arbitration Court, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, arrested funds, securities and property of the Latvian bank Rietumu Banka, its Russian representative office and the controlled Moscow company KI Invest. This is stated in the court materials in August 2025. The defendants in the claim of the State Enterprise of the Russian Federation, in addition to this legal entity, are the Bank of Latvia, Rietumu Banka, its Russian representative office and the Latvian RB Investments, a subsidiary of Rietumu Banka and KI Invest LLC. The funds were arrested within more than 105 million rubles.^[3]

2021

Fine of 5.85 million euros for legalization and laundering of funds obtained by criminal means

In June 2021, the Finance and Capital Market Commission applied a fine of 5.85 million euros to Rietumu banka for violating the laws of legalization and money laundering.

€20m fine for helping companies evade taxes

In mid-April 2021, Latvian lender Rietumu Banka will pay tens of millions to help companies evade taxes. The French Court of Appeal found Latvian Rietumu Banka guilty of money laundering, but reduced the fine from 80 million euros - a record European fine awarded to the bank in 2017 - to 20 million.

According to law enforcement, Rietumu helped clients of consulting firm France Offshore evade taxes for several years. The Paris court of first instance sentenced in the case in 2017, but Rietumu Bank and its former director Pankov tried to challenge this decision. Other defendants, including Nadav Bensusan, a former head of France Offshore, who was sentenced to five years in prison, did not challenge the court's decision.

Latvian bank Rietumu Banka will pay tens of millions to help companies evade taxes

The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed that Rietumu Banka played an important role in this fraudulent scheme, which worked from 2008 to 2012, but the judges did not justify their decision to reduce the fine. Judge Francois Reygrobellet said a written decision would be sent to interested parties at a later date.

The Paris prosecutor's office asked the court of appeal to fine the bank 60 million euros, and to sentence its former president Alexander Pankov to 2 years probation and a fine of 50,000 euros. The trial court sentenced him to four years probation. The Court of Appeal agreed to reduce the former director's prison sentence to two years, but fined him €150,000. The bank is banned from operating in France for five years.

A spokesman for Rietumu Banka noted that the appellate court took into account the bank's arguments and largely revised the decision of the trial court in favor of the bank.^[4]

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