WIDEN Latvia secures a favourable outcome for the Client in the case of criminally acquired property

April 16, 2025

On April 14, 2025, the Judicial Panel of Criminal Case of the Riga Regional Court issued a final decision in proceedings regarding criminally acquired property, thereby acknowledging that the funds of a WIDEN Latvia Client, exceeding 1 million euros, are not to be considered criminally acquired.

In its decision, the Judicial Panel of Criminal Case emphasized that the independence of the courts in proceedings concerning criminally acquired property is governed by the same fundamental principles of adjudication as in criminal proceedings. The principles of adjudication established in the Law “On Judicial Power” and Article 23 of the Criminal Procedure Law determine that courts are independent and subject only to the law, not to the opinions of parties involved in the proceedings concerning the evaluation of facts, circumstances, or issues. The fact that the person directing the proceedings and the prosecutor in the given case express differing views on the facts and circumstances and reach different conclusions cannot, in itself, serve as grounds to claim that the court reached an incorrect conclusion in the evaluation of those facts or to issue an unjustified decision aligned with those differing views.

As a result, the court reaffirmed that the opinion of the person directing the proceedings or the prosecutor regarding the evidence in the case, when differing from the court’s reasoning, cannot serve as grounds for a higher instance to alter the decision.