The State Police will not initiate criminal proceedings on the complaint of Russian and Latvian citizen, billionaire Petr Aven, against Foreign Minister Baiba Braže ('New Unity'), in which he accused the minister of defamation due to her statements in an interview with the Diena newspaper, LETA writes.
An internal investigation was initiated based on the content of the statement, during which it was established that there were no grounds for a criminal offense in the actions, therefore a decision was made to refuse to initiate a criminal case, the State Police's Public Relations Department informed the LETA agency.
Previously, Aven issued a press release criticizing Braže's statements in Diena, as he believed the politician unjustly accused him of corrupt ties with the highest political leadership of Russia and money laundering.
In Aven's statement to the police, available to the LETA agency, he quoted what was said in the publication: "Describing how dangerous it would be to exclude Aven from the sanctions list, the Minister of Foreign Affairs briefly told the Diena newspaper: 'He is Putin's personal banker. This is Putin's money that they are laundering.'"
The billionaire believes that such statements by Braže tarnish his honor. In his statement, he claimed that he has never engaged in either the legalization of criminally obtained funds or any other criminal activity, especially in the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Aven requested the police to initiate a criminal case regarding the assertion made in the publication that he is Putin's personal banker and is involved in laundering his money. The initiation of a criminal case was requested under the Criminal Law article on defamation.
It was previously reported that last year the Court of the European Union annulled the EU Council's decision to impose sanctions against Aven and his business partner Mikhail Fridman from February 28, 2022. Shortly after that, Latvia filed appeals in the sanctions cases against Aven and Fridman.
The Latvian Ministry of Justice previously explained that when imposing sanctions against Aven and Fridman, initial evidence was obtained that they provided active material or financial support to Russian individuals responsible for the annexation of Crimea or the destabilization of Ukraine.
