RIGA — The nationalization and reorganization of Latvia’s failed Parex Bank has remained largely under lock and key, but according to a number of anonymous sources that spoke with the Diena newspaper, the ultimate cost could be over 160 million lats (€226 million) for the state.

According to the sources interviewed for Friday’s article, who are allegedly top officials involved in the reorganization process, about 100 million lats (€141 million) will have to cover bank losses while a whopping 60 million lats (€84 million) will pay for [private_supervisor]litigation with previous owners Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis, arising from the takeover and division of assets.

At a press conference Wednesday the Latvian government announced its plan to split Parex Bank, the troubled financial institution it nationalized late in 2008, into two parts in order to improve chances for a privatization.

The exact sum government has lost while saving the country’s second-largest bank from bankruptcy at the end of 2008 remains classified, as an audit in October revealed little.

Ingrida Sudraba, chief auditor, told the “900 Seconds” television program that two-thirds of the report contains classified information and that only one-third can be made public at this point.

Sudraba suggested that by rescuing Parex the government drained precious funds from the economy that could have been better spent on more important national projects. The state auditor’s report is essentially an indictment of the government’s handling of Parex’s nationalization, and has placed top officials on the defensive.

Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, president of the Bank of Latvia, attempted to preempt the report by issuing his own statement in which he said that Latvia would have lost €3 billion — or three times what it has spent up to now — if the government had chosen not to intervene and bail out Parex.

— Baltic Reports reporter James Dahl contributed to this article. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]litigation with previous owners Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis, arising from the takeover and division of assets.

At a press conference Wednesday the Latvian government announced its plan to split Parex Bank, the troubled financial institution it nationalized late in 2008, into two parts in order to improve chances for a privatization.

The exact sum government has lost while saving the country’s second-largest bank from bankruptcy at the end of 2008 remains classified, as an audit in October revealed little.

Ingrida Sudraba, chief auditor, told the “900 Seconds” television program that two-thirds of the report contains classified information and that only one-third can be made public at this point.

Sudraba suggested that by rescuing Parex the government drained precious funds from the economy that could have been better spent on more important national projects. The state auditor’s report is essentially an indictment of the government’s handling of Parex’s nationalization, and has placed top officials on the defensive.

Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, president of the Bank of Latvia, attempted to preempt the report by issuing his own statement in which he said that Latvia would have lost €3 billion — or three times what it has spent up to now — if the government had chosen not to intervene and bail out Parex..

— Baltic Reports reporter James Dahl contributed to this article. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]litigation with previous owners Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis, arising from the takeover and division of assets.

At a press conference Wednesday the Latvian government announced its plan to split Parex Bank, the troubled financial institution it nationalized late in 2008, into two parts in order to improve chances for a privatization.

The exact sum government has lost while saving the country’s second-largest bank from bankruptcy at the end of 2008 remains classified, as an audit in October revealed little.

Ingrida Sudraba, chief auditor, told the “900 Seconds” television program that two-thirds of the report contains classified information and that only one-third can be made public at this point.

Sudraba suggested that by rescuing Parex the government drained precious funds from the economy that could have been better spent on more important national projects. The state auditor’s report is essentially an indictment of the government’s handling of Parex’s nationalization, and has placed top officials on the defensive.

Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, president of the Bank of Latvia, attempted to preempt the report by issuing his own statement in which he said that Latvia would have lost €3 billion — or three times what it has spent up to now — if the government had chosen not to intervene and bail out Parex.

— Baltic Reports reporter James Dahl contributed to this article. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]litigation with previous owners Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis, arising from the takeover and division of assets.

At a press conference Wednesday the Latvian government announced its plan to split Parex Bank, the troubled financial institution it nationalized late in 2008, into two parts in order to improve chances for a privatization.

The exact sum government has lost while saving the country’s second-largest bank from bankruptcy at the end of 2008 remains classified, as an audit in October revealed little.

Ingrida Sudraba, chief auditor, told the “900 Seconds” television program that two-thirds of the report contains classified information and that only one-third can be made public at this point.

Sudraba suggested that by rescuing Parex the government drained precious funds from the economy that could have been better spent on more important national projects. The state auditor’s report is essentially an indictment of the government’s handling of Parex’s nationalization, and has placed top officials on the defensive.

Ilmārs Rimšēvičs, president of the Bank of Latvia, attempted to preempt the report by issuing his own statement in which he said that Latvia would have lost €3 billion — or three times what it has spent up to now — if the government had chosen not to intervene and bail out Parex.

— Baltic Reports reporter James Dahl contributed to this article. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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