Commentary about the decision of the court of firs

On the 6^th of July in Paris the decision of the court of first instance in the case of France Offshore was announced, according to which the claims of the prosecution towards Rietumu Banka and its President were partially satisfied.

We will carefully examine the full text of the decision and together with our attorneys decide about further actions. At this moment it can be said that we strongly disagree with the decision and this decision will be appealed.

Rietumu Banka also wishes to remind that it fully cooperated with French judicial authorities during the investigation and the trial. We have never been involved in the tax evasion and that neither the bank, nor its President personally had any interest in these actions. Therefore the imposed fine of 80 million EUR and sanctions against the President of the bank appear widely ungrounded.

We would like to point out that until the moment of entry into force of the decision, the obligation to pay the fine does not arise. Taking into account all following instances the legal process may continue for a long period of time taking up to 2-3 years or more.

During the whole period of the upcoming legal proceedings the Bank will take into account the amount of possible fine in its plans and make provisions.

The creation of provisions will allow the payment of fine if that would be necessary, thus it will not affect the stability of the Bank`s operational activity.

Further on until the end of the legal process the Bank will abstain from giving comments in this regard and kindly asks to respect this position.

         Eleonora Gailisha          Mass Media and Public Relations          Phone: +371-67020506          Fax: +371-67020563          E-mail: egailisha@rietumu.lv