In June this year, officials of the National Police Central's Office for the Prevention of Economic Crimes completed an investigation into criminal proceedings on money laundering in large amounts carried out by a married couple. More than €260 000 was legalised criminally.
In June 2019, officials from Division 3 of the State Police's Central Criminal Police Office for Combating Economic Crimes, investigating criminal proceedings for more than 80 criminal episodes – the use and retrieval of foreign means of payment, bank settlement cards, data in the Internet environment – found that a man and his or her spouse own properties that are significantly above the lawfully obtained of persons. income generated. as part of the cooperation of the Swedish initiative,
Law enforcement officers received information as part of the Swedish co-operation initiative that the man's spouse had also purchased real estate in the resort city of the Kingdom of Spain, although the two people had not worked for a long time.
The requirements of the Swedish initiative at National level are contained in the Law on the Prevention, Disclosure and Investigation of Criminal Offences of 12 March 2009. The Council Framework Decision on simplifying the exchange of information and intelligence between law enforcement authorities of the Member States of the European Union was adopted on 18 December 2006. The main objective of the Swedish initiative is to improve and simplify the exchange of information and intelligence between the law enforcement authorities of the Member States of the European Union by investigating or collecting intelligence on criminal offences.
As part of Swedish initiative, the exchange of information with the Kingdom of Spain revealed that the man had been in the sights of the Spanish police from 2013 on numerous occasions about analogous criminal offences, namely fraudulent transactions using foreign means of payment, which indicated the nature of the person's normal business.
Officials from Division 3 of the General Criminal Police Office found that the spouses had already converted their illegally acquired financial resources to other values – real estate – since 2013, and changed their location to hide their origin.
The evidence gathered by provided a basis for both spouses to be identified as suspects in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 195 of the Criminal Law, namely the high level of money laundering. Such a crime shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for a period of three to 12 years, by confiscating property or without seizure of property, and by supervision of probation for a period of up to three years or without it.
Evidence of the involvement of individuals in criminal activities was strengthened, and in June this year the criminal case was referred to the Riga Court District Prosecutor's Office for the initiation of criminal proceedings.
Prepared by:
Elīna Priedīte
Senior Officer of the State Police's
Public Relations Division
Tel: 67075093, 29600629
elina.priedite@vp.gov.lv