Latvian court rules to seize $30 mln from Yanukovych's entourage

"Due to the joint efforts of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the competent authorities of the Republic of Latvia, a Latvian court has issued a judgment recognizing the proceeds of more than $30 million related to former Ukrainian high-ranking officials as criminal and ruled to seize them," the report reads.

The funds were frozen in early 2015 as part of a request for legal assistance from Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office.

The issue of returning criminal assets to Ukraine will be resolved at the intergovernmental level, the PGO added.

Earlier it was reported that in Latvia, 50 million euros in the accounts of former Ukrainian high-ranking officials who worked under Yanukovych had been recognized as illegally acquired and withdrawn in favor of the Latvian treasury. The funds were confiscated as part of a special procedure, without a criminal conviction.

Subsequently, during negotiations with the PGO delegation, Latvia's prosecutor general expressed the readiness to discuss the possibility of returning to Ukraine or distributing the funds withdrawn from the accounts of Yanukovych's entourage.

In January 2018, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated that the EUR 50 million of Yanukovych's entourage confiscated to the Latvian budget could be returned to Ukraine in accordance with international conventions.

Zelensky will pay an official visit to Latvia on October 16.

op