(Bloomberg) -- Latvia's criminally charged central bank governor canceled plans to visit Washington reversing a decision made after he was left out of his country's delegation to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
Ilmars Rimsevics, who also sits on the European Central Bank's interest rate-setting Governing Council, planned to meet investors with members of the Bank of Latvia's reserve-management committee during the trip. Before being charged with bribery -- he denies wrongdoing -- he led delegations to IMF meetings for years.
“I can confirm that due to the workload the decision has been taken to cancel this trip and not travel to the U.S.,” bank spokesman Janis Silakalns said in an email on Thursday. Rimsevics said on Oct. 2 he was making the trip and wouldn't attend the IMF meetings.
Having served in the upper echelons of the central bank since 1992, Rimsevics experienced an abrupt fall from grace last year, when anti-corruption police detained him and prosecutors charged him with accepting bribes from a defunct bank.
He's repeatedly professed his innocence, rejected calls to quit, and returned to his job thanks to a ruling by the European Court of Justice. Still, his presence has put the central bank in an awkward position, as his public news conferences inevitably spark questions about the case.
His criminal trial begins next month, and the government is considering four candidates to replace him when his term of office ends in December.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andrew Langley
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