The Senate’s Department of Criminal Cases has refused to initiate cassation proceedings in a criminal case in which a man was found guilty of undeclared import of USD 90 100 into the Republic of Latvia by crossing the country's external border. The judgment of the Economic Court, which sentenced the man to a fine of ten minimum monthly salaries or EUR 6200, has therefore entered into force.

It follows from the circumstances of the case that the man entered Latvia from Russia in 2020 on the Moscow-Riga train. At the Zilupe crossing point, the man did not declare that he had cash the amount of which exceeded             EUR 10 000, and State Revenue Service officials later discovered that he had USD 90 100 hidden in his clothing. The man explained to the officials that the money had been obtained as a loan.

Both the first instance court and the court of appeal found that the man had violated the law by failing to declare the funds, but did not find him guilty of money laundering. The court, having examined the information in the case file, including about the loan, found that there was no evidence in the case that the funds had a criminal origin. Accordingly, the court also ruled that the money would be returned to the man when the judgment entered into force.

The Senate refused to initiate cassation proceedings because the prosecutor's arguments in the cassation protest were aimed at overturning the judgment of the court of appeal not on legal grounds but on factual grounds, which contravened the Criminal Procedure Law.

Case No SKK-149/2025 (15840000420)

 

Kārlis Arājs
Communication adviser of the Supreme Court
Telephone: +371 67020302
E-mail: karlis.arajs@at.gov.lv