The fact is that the banks of Latvia and Estonia began unilaterally to change the contracts in March, to block the accounts of citizens of the CIS countries, accusing them of money laundering.
Many customers of local banks were notified that their accounts would be unilaterally closed due to the fact that they fell under the definition of so-called shell companies (or dummy companies), and their transactions would be only conducted after the procedure of in-depth analysis.
After that information, customers’ accounts were frozen, but at the same time a monthly maintenance fee of 1000 euros was withdrawn. In order that clients could claim the right to return their money, they had to undergo an in-depth check at the bank, proving that the company was not a sponsor of terrorists and was not engaged in money laundering. At the same time, the verification procedure became paid. Even if the client provided the full package of documents required for verification, the withdrawal of funds from the account would be possible with the restrictions imposed by the law of Latvia “On Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism”, warned the bank.
Clients are now invited to jointly defend their rights.
