The court rules to release arrested funds of COBALT clients and revoke police decision on confiscation of their property

In a rare occasion two court instances have ruled in favour of defendants whose funds were seized by the Economical police on suspicion of criminal origin of their funds. After several years of litigation COBALT obtained a favourable ruling for our clients that released their arrested funds and dismissed criminal proceedings, on suspicion of criminal origin of more than EUR 500 000.

The Criminal Division of Riga Regional Court rejected the position of investigation and prosecution and admitted that it is not enough to recognise property as criminally acquired, solely on the basis of a hypothesis that the seized funds were directly or indirectly acquired as a result of a criminal offence. On 15 February 2023 Riga Regional Court delivered a ruling upholding the Riga City Court’s decision of 7 January 2022, by which the court terminated criminal proceedings for confiscation of criminally acquired property. This decision is final and binding.

The Court has found that the initial allegation of the criminal origin of the disputed assets must be proved by investigating authorities, and only then by the defendants. The investigative authorities should have sought evidence to prove the criminal origin of the assets, rather than relying solely on the submission of incomplete documents by the owners of the seized property, which could then be questioned, declared insufficient or inconclusive for the purpose of establishing the legality of the assets.

The Court has concluded that there was no direct or circumstantial evidence in the case to support the allegation made by the prosecutor that the property seized from our clients originated from criminal sources.

Deliberations in this case will serve as jurisprudence for the relevant matters in future.

Representation of the clients before all court instances was ensured by COBALT Managing Partner Lauris Liepa, Senior Associate Marija Berdova and criminal defence lawyer Saulvedis Vārpiņš.