Looking back at the past year, Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte, Head of Sorainen Latvia Corporate Crime Practice, notes: “In order to provide business clients with the most comprehensive and convenient range of legal services, criminal law is one of the areas of law in which Sorainen continues to provide assistance. Looking back at what we have done in 2024 and comparing it to, we can conclude that overall the work of our team of criminal law experts has been fairly constant in terms of content. We mainly provided legal assistance in cases of alleged money laundering, tax evasion and sanctions violations. The clients in these cases are mainly companies and their management boards.”
Our clients also face other forms of crime related to business events as a result of everyday events. We have therefore also helped clients who have been victims of harassment, defamation and unfair competition
A feature of 2024 is the increase in defence cases directly against natural persons.
It is also worth noting that in several cases our team has been involved in assessing specific issues and providing “second opinions” in criminal proceedings conducted by lawyers other than Sorainen. In preparing such “second opinions”, our criminal law team works in close cooperation with our experts in other fields, in particular tax, customs, commercial and finance.
Below you will find a snapshot of the most typical categories of cases we have advised our clients on in 2024.
Money laundering (ML)
In the business environment, the topic of ML is often linked to allegations that companies are using illegally sourced funds and assets that are being injected into the business through banks in Latvia to hide or disguise the true, illicit origin of these funds.
ML has been an issue in Latvia for several years. In our practice, the analysis continued in 2024. Also last year, we assisted clients (companies, multinational groups, individuals) in recovering funds seized from a bank in Latvia as part of criminal proceedings, which are considered to be potentially suspicious and related to ML activities. We also involve our financial law experts in such cases, as we also provide legal assistance to clients who have had not only financial assets, but also financial instruments seized.
Teamwork – criminal and financial law experts working together – is essential for a successful case and a positive outcome for the client.
The main contact persons are Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte and Krista Niklase.
Tax offences
In 2024, we assisted in criminal proceedings against individuals, as well as “criminal proceedings” (or proceedings for coercive measures) against a company for alleged tax evasion.
We help clients in these cases in two ways. First, we provide defence for individuals or defence and representation for companies in criminal proceedings. The second area involves the preparation of opinions to supplement the client’s defence in criminal cases where other lawyers are providing the defence. In these cases, clients turn to us to supplement their defence arguments in criminal proceedings, taking into account our tax law experts, who provide substantial analysis of tax and accounting rules and practices, combined with the assistance of our criminal law experts. This tandem is of particular importance in criminal proceedings for alleged tax offences, significantly strengthening the defence position.
The main contact persons are Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte and Krista Niklase.
Sanctions infringements
Criminal proceedings for sanctions violations have become increasingly common in the business environment. Continuing the 2023 trend, criminal sanctions violations have been addressed in the context of Russia’s hostilities in Ukraine in 2022.
In our practice, cases in this segment are characterised by the export or import of goods to and from the European Union, which in the view of the ombudsmen is not allowed. Accordingly, the subject of the disputes is the goods in question, including metal products, construction items, petroleum products, or their eligibility as sanctioned goods.
By working together with criminal and customs law experts, our role is to help our clients determine whether a particular item should indeed be classified as a security-sanctioned item.
In 2024, our proactive work in several criminal proceedings of this nature resulted in the termination of criminal proceedings. Typically because there was no intention to commit a sanction violation.
At the same time, during the period under review, we have identified an aspect of this category of cases that could give rise to a constitutional debate. This relates to the conduct of the person conducting the proceedings in proposing that the property be declared to be connected with a criminal offence in a special “confiscation of property procedure”, despite the fact that the criminal offence has not been established, let alone proven.
Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte and Jānis Dobelnieks specialise in this field.
“Criminal proceedings” for the company
In 2024, we continued to provide legal assistance to companies in “criminal proceedings” – proceedings for coercive measures against legal persons for alleged bribery, tax evasion, etc.
In such cases, one of the most important arguments is to prove the company’s operational compliance. This includes developing, communicating to employees and management, following and updating policies on risk management and other necessary activities (e.g. anti-corruption). In our experience, the absence or negligence of such procedures puts a company at risk of being involved in law enforcement investigations, lengthy and reputation-damaging criminal proceedings.
The main contact persons are Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte and Krista Niklase.
Protection of honour and dignity
In 2024, building on our previous work, we dealt with cases where clients face immediate negative consequences for their business and reputation following public media reports of unsubstantiated, criminal activity.
The Criminal Code provides for liability for defamation, or the deliberate dissemination of knowingly false, disgraceful statements in the mass media. In situations where such information is disseminated against a company, in particular by accusing it of criminal activities, the company’s reputation is damaged. Unfortunately, in our work helping victims, we have been confronted with the perception that only individuals deserve protection for defamation, not companies. While we disagree with this interpretation of the rules, we are doing our best to change this perception.
In this segment, we provided legal assistance to a victim in a criminal case of attempted extortion.
Andris Tauriņš, Jānis Dobelnieks and Krista Niklase are the main contacts on this issue.
Defending individuals
In 2024, we provided legal aid to defendants in a wide range of criminal cases. In addition to the above-mentioned cases, it is worth mentioning criminal proceedings for offences against property (fraud, embezzlement), against morality and sexual integrity, as well as criminal proceedings for offences in the service of public institutions (forgery) and in the economy (smuggling, illegal manufacture (production), storage, movement and sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products).
It is important to note that the substantive and procedural issues that arise in each individual criminal proceeding do not lend themselves to a one-size-fits-all defence tactic. Each case therefore required an individual approach, which our experienced advocates provided.
Based on our objective assessment of the legal situation, we evaluated the client’s chosen defence tactics and, where necessary, proposed our own adjustments and improvements. Our recommendations are based on many years of experience and practice gained through participation in numerous investigations and trials. We also ensured the presence of a quality lawyer in various investigative activities, such as interrogations, confrontations, examination of evidence, searches, expert examinations, etc., as well as assisted in the realisation of the defence in bail reviews and hearings.
Andris Tauriņš, Dr Violeta Zeppa-Priedīte and Jānis Dobelnieks are the main contacts on this issue.
