Latvia's central bank governor Ilmars Rimsevics, who is suspected of bribe-taking by anti-corruption authorities, claimed he was innocent in an interview with the Financial Times.
The bank governor, who was appointed in 2001 and also sits on the European Central Bank governing council, was detained last weekend by the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB).
He is accused of having solicited and received a bribe of at least €100,000.
Now out on bail, though barred from carrying out his duties, Rimsevics claimed that the accusations were the doing of several banks upset over his attempts to improve transparency regarding the bank accounts of non-residents in the Baltic country neighbouring Russia.
"I just vehemently deny these allegations. I could only guess that I have been a very inconvenient public figure for several financial institutions in this country, thus making them for an extended period of time try to gather some evidence or (organise) provocations in order to remove me," he told the newspaper.
"It is a well-orchestrated action in concert among several individuals and banks who have served non-resident clients at various times to whom I have become a burden," he added.
He believes the allegations against him are a result of his efforts to have banks undergo audits by US law firms in 2016 and 2017, which had lowered their profits.
Just days after Rimsevics was detained, Latvia's financial sector got another shock, when the European Central Bank announced it was freezing payments by the country's third largest bank, ABLV, because its finances had deteriorated in the wake of money laundering allegations from Washington.
Several senior Latvian officials said there was no link between the two matters.
Last week the US Department of the Treasury named ABLV "an institution of primary money laundering concern" and accused it of connections to North Korea's weapons development programme.
Latvian police said today that they had begun probing the money laundering claims.
Latvia's central bank provided an emergency loan to troubled lender ABLV today, offering it a potential lifeline as a European Central Bank deadline approaches for the bank to present a credible survival plan.
The Bank of Latvia said it has agreed to lend ABLV €297.2 million in emergency liquidity assistance, which includes a €97.5 million loan it provided earlier this week. This relatively expensive form of funding may help ABLV stabilise its operations and eventually reopen.
