Latvia's anticorruption agency has released the country's central bank governor from custody on bail from corruption charges, media reported.
Ilmars Rimševics, the governor of Latvijas Banka and a member of the European Central Bank's governing council, was detained by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau on Feb. 17 on a charge of soliciting a bribe from the country's third-largest lender, ABLV Bank AS, which is being investigated in a separate money-laundering inquiry.
The ECB has ceased all payments by ABLV Bank over liquidity concerns, forcing the bank to seek emergency financial support, Reuters and the BBC reported.
"The criminal procedure is about demanding a bribe of no less than €100,000," Jekabs Straume, the head of the anticorruption agency, told reporters at a news conference Feb. 19.
Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis has called on Rimševics to resign.
