The investigation in the case of the bank „Snoras“ comes to an end
Today the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation of the Prosecutor General‘s Office, being confident that in the course of investigation enough information have been collected proving the guilt of the suspects for the commitment of the offences, adopted the decision to finish the investigation in the case, in which suspicions have been brought against V.A. and R.B., the former managers and shareholders of the bank „Snoras“, concerning the misappropriation of property of large value of the bank „Snoras“, squander of property of great value, criminal bankruptcy, legalization of property acquired by criminal means, fraudulent management of the accounts of the bank, abuse of official position seeking the material or another personal gain, forgery of documents referring to the accounting at the foreign banks of securities owned by the bank, forgery and use of the forged documents.
Following the requirements of the law, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania sends the reports about the end of this pre-trial investigation to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, because the suspects are hiding on the territory of the Russian Federation, and the damage caused by the offences is great – nearly 0.5 billion EUR.
The officers of the Special Tasks Board of the Financial Crime Investigation Office (FCIS) are entitled to notify defenders of the suspects, the civil claimant and his representatives about the end of this pre-trial investigation and to let them know the material of the case.
The Prosecutor General’s Office launched the pre-trial investigation on 14 November 2011, when it received and assessed the information of the Bank of Lithuania about the violations detected at the bank “Snoras” and the possible offences against the financial system of the country, property, civil service. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by the FCIS officers, the investigation was organized and controlled by the prosecutors of the Department of Organized Crimes and Corruption Investigation.
It is suspected that since autumn 2008 until summer 2011 there were 35 transfers of great value (from 5 million up to 74 million EUR) made with the money and securities of the bank “Snoras” to the personal accounts at the banks operating in the Swiss Confederation. It is also suspected that from 2009 until 2011 there were 2 illegal transactions of great value made with the property of the bank “Snoras”. Because of the aforementioned actions the bank “Snoras” suffered the damage of nearly 0.5 billion EUR.
The possibility to finish the aforementioned pre-trial investigation transmitting it to judicial authorities appeared only whenever in October 2017 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the respective amendments of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They provided for that in the pre-trial investigations of the offences, by which great damage had been made and in which the suspect is not on the territory of Lithuania and cannot be extradite or transferred to the Republic of Lithuania, the prosecutor appeals to the Judge of pre-trial investigation with the request to acknowledge such a person to be the suspect.
The amendments of the law enabled to continue the aforementioned pre-trial investigations and afterwards to convict the hiding persons in abstencia. On 8 February 2018 the Vilnius District Court met the request of D. Stankevičius, the prosecutor of the Department of Organized Crimes and Corruption Investigation of the Prosecutor General’s Office, to acknowledge V.A. and R.B., who are presently hiding on the territory of the Russian Federation and are not available to the law enforcement of Lithuania, to be the suspects.
The officers paid special attention to the aforementioned pre-trial investigation. The Prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office permanently cooperated with the prosecutors of the United Kingdom and participated in the hearing at the court of London on the extradition of the suspects V.A. and R.B. to the Republic of Lithuania, where the prosecutors gave the explanations. During the aforementioned pre-trial investigation 90 witnesses were interviewed, 20 of which were interviewed in the foreign countries. More than 200 requests for the legal assistance were established and sent to 21 different foreign countries, 50 procedural coercive actions (searches, seizures of documents) were made. In the course of pre-trial investigation 12 investigations of the economic-financial activity specialists were carried out, which include more than 100 volumes of the case material, 7 investigations of the digital information (computers and storage devices) were conducted. The material of the aforementioned investigation includes over 500 volumes.
In the course of investigation great assistance was provided by Eurojust, the Embassies of Lithuania abroad, foreign colleagues through cooperation during the questioning of the persons, collecting the information significant for investigation and receiving the documents. E.g. the documents significant for investigation obtained from the banks of the Swiss Confederation (the total number is 22 binders) were handed over in Zurich to the prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the officers of the Financial Crime Investigation Service brought themselves the abovementioned documents to Lithuania escorted by the officers of the foreign countries, which they had to pass. Moreover, the significant support to the investigation was provided by the following international communication organizations: Interpol, Europol, Egmont Group, Carina, by the help of which the information was obtained about the assets of the suspects owned in the foreign countries, as well as the units of the Lithuanian Police performing the search of property and individuals.
In the course of pre-trial investigation the team of “Snoras” Bankruptcy administrator has been acknowledged to be the civil claimant and has brought the civil claim amounting to nearly 0.5 billion EUR. Aiming to ensure a civil claim in the course of pre-trial investigation the rights to the assets of the suspects amounting to 230 million EUR, i.e. the funds available in the accounts of the foreign banks and in Lithuania, real estate in France, the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Lithuania, luxurious cars and motorbikes, shares of the companies related to and managed by the suspects, have been restricted.
The suspects and their defenders, civil claimant and his representatives after the announcement that the pre-trial investigation has been completed, are liable to acknowledge themselves with all the investigation material and present the requests to supplement the pre-trial investigation.
About the prosecutor’s decision to bring the pre-trial investigation before the court will be notified additionally.