Is Parex Bank the KGB?

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

A rumor has been going strong in Latvia for two decades: Parex Bank is the successor to the KGB in Latvia.

Parex obviously controls the Latvian government since the unnecessary Parex bailout is the highest-priority spending item in Latvian history.

If Parex controls the Latvian government, and Parex is the KGB, then doesn’t that mean…

It is easy to get former Parex employees to discuss the bank’s KGB connections when talking in private over a beer. But, it is difficult to get this information in writing. Here is one rare example, from the former Parex representative to Estonia.

Yeltsin Package email

Latvia ejected a Russian spy?

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

When John Christmas was hired by Parex Bank, he was contacted by Dimitry Yermolaev, the Third Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Latvia, to have lunch.

Yermolaev informed Christmas that Parex was a criminal organization.

Christmas informed Yermolaev that the new Latvian government, run by Prime Minister Einars Repse, would crack down on corruption. At the time, a large corruption issue in Latvia was the obviously criminal purchase of the “Baltic Kristina” ferry. Parex was involved. Repse said that the government would take action.

Yermolaev informed Christmas that Repse will never take action against Parex because Repse worked for the “Jewish KGB Mafia” (Yermolaev’s words). Yermolaev said that in earlier years Repse worked in cooperation with former KGB agent Grigory Krupnikov to put Bank of Latvia (Latvian central bank) deposits into KGB banks.

The allegations were never investigated. The story has been censored by the Latvian press. Repse remains a leading Latvian politician.

The only action taken by the Latvian government was to eject Yermolaev from the country. Christmas had already been ejected from the country by this time.

pdf snapshot from 20 March 2012:

Dmitry Jermolayev

link, if not yet censored by Latvian authorities:

http://nra.lv/latvija/politika/44358-ekskluzivi-intervija-ar-krievijas-spiegu-dmitriju-jermolajevu.htm

Guntars Vitols of Parex Bank threatened whistleblower

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

In late 2005, John Christmas learned that the Latvian State Revenue Service (VID) would look at the Parex Bank fraud information. This was great news, because the Latvian Prosecutors Office, Latvian financial regulator, Latvian central bank, Latvian Ministry of the Economy, and other government agencies refused to investigate.

Christmas knew that a senior person in the VID was the mother-in-law of the former President of Parex Asset Management, Guntars Vitols. Vitols spoke often about how much he hated the liars at Parex, and therefore it seemed possible that he wanted revenge.

Christmas asked Vitols to tell what he knew about tax evasion (paying employee bonuses in unreported envelopes stuffed with American hundred-dollar bills) to the VID. Christmas suggested going to the American FBI if the Latvian government did nothing.

Vitols apparently went to Parex and warned them that Christmas might go to the FBI instead of telling what he knew to VID.

Christmas received the warning from Jekaterina Ecina immediately afterward. Parex had sent thugs to look for Christmas.

Fortunately, Christmas was outside of Latvia and therefore safe. He reported the threats to the Latvian government with only one result: Vitols contacted Christmas and said that Christmas should expect a phone call from a prosecutor who will explain that Christmas must renounce the whistleblowing or else get prosecuted.

A prosecutor did not call, however Vitols himself called back. This time, Christmas was ready with a recording device. Vitols tried to convince Christmas to sign a false confession that the whistleblowing was not true, threatening arrest by Interpol and prosecution in Latvia otherwise.

In the transcripts and recordings below, Vitols (acting as an intermediary for Parex Oligarch Viktor Krasovitsky and the Latvian Prosecutors Office) communicates this illegal threat to Christmas.

It is possible to confirm from the recordings that Vitols himself was witness to at least two of the material frauds at Parex. He was witness to tax evasion (bonuses paid in envelopes). And, he was witness to the unreported issuance of stock options (he said “stock agreement” once and “stock option” later).

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Krisjanis Karins, Einars Repse, Ilmars Rimsevics, Janis Maizitis, Janis Kazocins

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

Krisjanis Karins was Latvian Minister of the Economy at the time John Christmas blew the whistle on Parex Bank. Karins was one of the recipients of the original whistleblowing letter from 2005, together with Einars Repse (Minister of Defense), Ilmars Rimsevics (Governor of the Bank of Latvia), and Janis Maizitis (General Prosecutor).

All of these gentlemen ignored the whistleblowing and therefore hold reponsibility for causing the Latvian Financial Crisis. However, Latvian newspapers refuse to inform the Latvian people and therefore the same men are still running Latvia in 2012.

When Christmas began receiving murder threats from Parex, Karins told Christmas to report the problem to Janis Kazocins at the Latvian Constitutional Protection Bureau. Kazocins also ignored the problem and sat and watched while the national economy was destroyed. He also remains in power today.

Karins email

SAB email

Jekaterina Ecina of Parex Bank warned whistleblower

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

The communication from Jekaterina Ecina of Parex Bank to whistleblower John Christmas in January 2006 was criminal in several ways.

Even though the communication was about a murder and a murder threat, the Latvian authorities refused to investigate.

Also, this communication has been censored from the Latvian media.

The Latvian government is comfortable spending billions of euros of taxpayer money on the unnecessary Parex bailout. However, the Latvian government is not comfortable spending thousands of euros to investigate an alleged murder involving Parex.

The email below was addressed to Andris Straumanis of LatviansOnline.com. This website has consistently refused to publish true information about Parex, presumably to paint a rosy picture of Latvia for Western Latvians who would be unhappy to know that thugs from the KGB still control Latvia now in 2012.

Ecina warning

Valters Kronbergs, Ernst & Young, Parex Bank

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

When John Christmas learned in August 2004 that the financial statements of his employer, Parex Bank, were false, he blew the whistle as required by law. He gave a long list of frauds to Ernst & Young Baltics partner Valters Kronbergs. If Ernst & Young had withdrawn its audit opinions, as required by law, then the Latvian Financial Crisis never would have happened. Latvia would have a thriving economy today, like its neighbor Estonia.

Unfortunately, Kronbergs reacted to the whistleblowing by sometimes denying that the whistleblowing took place and sometimes getting angry at the whistleblower. The auditors refused to investigate the frauds and continued to sign Parex annual reports until 2009, after the nationalization.

Many more Parex frauds have been revealed in recent years, but the Ernst & Young auditors don’t care. They refuse to withdraw their opinions.

Below is an email in which Kronbergs denied the whistleblowing. It is a simple matter to analyze the wording of this email and determine that he was lying.

And, this paragraph is from a businessman who wrote to Christmas after seeing Kronbergs. While Kronbergs was denying that the whistleblowing occurred in emails, he was telling people that Christmas was a horrible person for being a whistleblower.

“Where are you? Still in Spain? What are you up to? I understand that you are not too popular in some quarters in Riga, especially dangerously – Parex – and some of the ex-pats [Valters Kronbergs] you apparently included in your assault on Parex? So I heard, but that does not mean any of it is true or otherwise.”

Kronbergs denial

FKTK refused to act

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

The Latvian Financial and Capital Markets Commission (FKTK) received details of material frauds at Parex Bank from whistleblower John Christmas in May 2005. The FKTK refused to act. As a result, the Republic of Latvia suffered a financial and demographic crisis when the corrupt government forced the taxpayers to bail out Parex in October 2008. Now in March 2012, Christmas is still waiting for the FKTK to begin to investigate the Parex frauds. He has been unable to enter Latvia since the whistleblowing even though he is a citizen of Latvia. He has been repeatedly threatened with death for many years and Latvian authorities refuse to investigate.

FKTK email

FKTK letter

james brown, john doe, Liga Purina, Roberts Stugis, Ernst & Young, Parex Bank

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

This internal email from Parex Bank indicates that (1) the Parex financial statements were false and (2) all four vice presidents and the head of accounting knew.

The email reveals that Extro Bank, Nezavisimost, Allen Finance, and Northern Investment Bank were “de facto subsidiaries.”

This was illegal in many ways. Parex was supposed to have permission from the Latvian regulator and Russian regulator to own Extro Bank in Russia. Parex was supposed to have permission from the Latvian regulator and Belarusian regulator to own Northern Investment Bank in Belarus.

These companies (and a few more leasing companies that were also undisclosed subsidiaries but were not named in this email, such as Extro Leasing) were funded with loans from Parex that were on the books as loans to unrelated parties. The total amount of these loans was larger than the bank’s equity. Therefore, the bank effectively had negative equity.

This was one of the frauds in John Christmas’ whistleblowing to Ernst & Young in August 2004. Parex reacted by changing the leasing companies from “loans to unrelated parties” into “subsidiaries” without admitting that this had been a fraud. This cover-up, done with fake purchases, was another fraud. The auditor Ernst & Young knew and did not care. Perhaps this was because two of the four vice presidents, john doe and Liga Purina, were former employees of the auditor.

When Parex gave its liabiliities to the Latvian government at the end of 2008, the government retained Roberts Stugis as head of accounting and Ernst & Young as auditor. Clearly, the government’s objective was to cover-up the truth about Parex while at the same time receiving bailout funds from foreign governments.

brown email

Kempmayer, Parex Bank, censorship

Posted on March 28, 2012 by admin1

One of the largest corruption cases in Latvian history was the Kempmayer digital television scam.

Parex Bank was involved, however the Latvian media never mentions Parex in articles about Kempmayer. Why not?

As usual, nobody has been punished – except the Latvian taxpayers and the international taxpayers who give money to the Latvian government.

This email from 2004 lists Parex crimes (including Kempmayer) that were uncovered by the United States government. The Ambassador of the United States was repeatedly refusing invitations to meet Parex president Valery Kargin. This list of crimes was provided as the reason.

Kempmayer email

ReportingProject.net

Posted on March 27, 2012 by admin1

ReportingProject.net has well-researched articles about the fraud and money laundering industry in Latvia. The articles include information that does not appear in Latvian newspapers. Here is a quote from an article about Parex Bank:

“According to representatives of post-nationalized Parex Bank, Burwell was director of companies that received loans from Parex before nationalisation that the bank now suspects were hidden loans to the former shareholders Kargins and Krasovickis.”

http://www.reportingproject.net/proxy/behind-the-proxies