Latvian anti-money laundering office probing corruption links to Malta

Maltese investigators have requested the help of the Latvian anti-money laundering office to trace payments made via a shady Latvian bank connected with alleged corruption involving the company 17 Black, a top investigative news website has reported. The outgoing head of the Latvian Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity, Viesturs Burkāns, told Re:Baltica that the FIAU had requested its assistance last February in connection with transfers via Latvian ABLV bank. Read: $1.6m wired to Mizzi and Schembri's Panama 'target client' Leaked documents had shown that a total of $1.6 million (€1.3 million) was transferred to 17 Black, a Dubai company listed as one of the "target clients" which would pay in money to Keith Schembri's and Konrad Mizzi's once-secret Panama companies. The FIAU had traced two payments totalling $1.4 million (€1.1 million) to 17 Black, from a company in the Seychelles called Mayor Trans, according to a leaked report. The Seychelles company is owned by an Azerbaijani national. The $1.4 million was sent to 17 Black in November 2015, via ABLV, the Latvian bank recently closed down due to money laundering violations. Mr...