According to the European arrest warrant issued by the Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office, former co-owner of the parent bank of the liquidated "Latvijas krājbanka" - the liquidated Lithuanian bank "Snoras" - Vladimir Antonov has been detained in France, sentenced in Lithuania to 10.5 years in prison for embezzling large sums of money from the bank, the Lithuanian Prosecutor's Office reported on Thursday.
Legal procedures have currently been initiated for the extradition of Antonov to Lithuania, Lithuania's Prosecutor General Nida Grunskene told reporters.
The Prosecutor General added that she has no information on the whereabouts of former CEO of "Snoras" Raimondas Baranauskas, who has also been sentenced in Lithuania to 10.5 years in prison.
Antonov was detained in the French region of Brittany. The Lithuanian Prosecutor's Office issued a European arrest warrant for him on December 9.
As reported, in November last year, the Vilnius District Court sentenced Antonov and Baranauskas in absentia to 10.5 years in prison for embezzling large sums of money from the bank.
The lawyers of Antonov and Baranauskas appealed the verdict. The appeal is expected to be reviewed next year by the Lithuanian Court of Appeals.
The criminal case was transferred to court by the Prosecutor General's Office in 2019 after seven years of pre-trial investigation.
Antonov and Baranauskas were sentenced to imprisonment for eight intentional crimes. Antonov was also recognized as the main organizer of the crimes.
Russian citizen Antonov and Lithuanian citizen Baranauskas were convicted in absentia - this is permitted by amendments to the Lithuanian Criminal Procedure Code adopted in 2017, which expand the possibility of convicting individuals in their absence for crimes that caused significant harm.
The court established that Antonov and Baranauskas embezzled property worth €509.18 million, caused damage to the bank "Snoras" and its creditors amounting to €466.67 million, and misappropriated another €14.5 million.
In 2015, British courts decided to extradite Antonov and Baranauskas, who were living in London at the time, to Lithuania, but the latter left the country and went to Russia, where he was granted asylum.
In March 2018, Lithuanian prosecutors, preparing for the in absentia trial, notified the Russian Prosecutor General's Office of the charges against Antonov and Baranauskas, but Russia refused to extradite them.
The Lithuanian government nationalized "Snoras" and suspended the bank's operations in November 2011. A bankruptcy case for the bank was later initiated. A shortfall of 100 million lats (€140 million) was soon identified at "Latvijas krājbanka", and in December 2011, the Riga District Court declared the bank insolvent.
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