Criticism against Swedbank and SEB from anti-corruption teams

She is upset when she learns that Swedbank and SEB are once again holding accounts for companies that are currently being investigated for suspected financial crime.

- It's sad, very sad. I think these banks play a very important role. These dominant market players must stand up and say, "This is not how we work" and they must prove this with their actions, says Liene Gatere.

She is the head of the organization Transparency International in Latvia and has worked hard for many years to get the country's banks, parliament and government to tighten rules and legislation on corruption, money laundering and financial crime.

Guna Gleizde is one of Latvia's most experienced investigative economics journalists. She works with the burgeoning television program Neka Personiga which regularly has corruption revelations. She says that it is no coincidence that the finance and lending sector in Latvia is relatively unregulated by politicians and authorities.

- Those who work in the lending industry devote a great deal of power to lobbying. It is perhaps the sector that has the greatest influence in Parliament and the government, she says.

Another of the most corruption-prone industries that Guna Gleizde examined is the so-called green energy sector, that is, the same sector within which Mierkaln's and Tenberg's joint companies exist. Energy companies have received billions in recent years and many companies have received money without producing any energy.

- Many of the companies that received money have donated money to political parties, says Guna Gleizde.

And Latvia's leading corruption hunter Juris Jurass agrees with both Transparency International and Guna Gleizde.

- By donating money to several parties, these businessmen try to ensure that no matter which party comes to power, they will take care of their business interests by enforcing certain laws, says Juris Jurass.