Think of Ukraine.  More corrupt than Latvia?  Maybe not.  When undeclared insider loans caused Ukraine’s Privatbank to collapse, the government commenced a lawsuit against PWC to recover $3 billion.

In Latvia, the government could have sued EY for $1 or $2 billion for the Parex collapse.  A whistleblower handed information about undeclared insider loans to EY a few years earlier and those same loans were some of the worst assets at Parex.

EY then ‘audited’ both Parex and ABLV’s annual reports for 2008 which was the year when the government transferred money to Parex to help a lot of Parex clients withdraw their deposits and re-deposit the money at ABLV.  Maybe some assets or equity was also shifted around, who knows?

But here is the crazy new story – EY has been appointed to audit the liquidation of ABLV!  Latvia isn’t suing EY and instead is giving them access to billions more dollars!

Corruption in Latvia has reached a point where it is just a game between the corrupt bankers and corrupt administrators to divide up loot, while regulators and prosecutors do nothing and pretend they don’t know what is happening.  Anyone interested in investing here?  Ha ha.  Certainly not us, until the EU or US helps Latvia to arrest the perpetrators and put them in jail.