Explosive allegations of fraud linking the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Latvia’s banking sector, and Vladimir Putin’s money laundering networks have reached the floor of the UK Parliament twice.
Yet despite mounting evidence and political fallout, the EBRD remains silent.
The EBRD is owned by 74 member countries from where it gets its funding as well as by the European Union and the Green Climate Fund from which it receives donations.
In May 2023, whistleblower John Christmas presented Eurostat data at the House of Commons showing that Latvia twice claimed to sell shares to the EBRD.
Documents allegedly revealed Latvia secretly paid the EBRD to act as front investor and the announced 'sale' was a deception which undermined EU debt reporting rules and concealed connections to banks involved in laundering Russian funds.
Christmas has authored an award-winning novel on the subject titled KGB Banker.
The spotlight returned in January 2025, when MPs and guests filled another Commons room for a screening of "Banker's Game", a documentary produced by Christmas and Andrea Vrazhalska.
John Christmas presents his film at the UK Houses of Parliament. (Source: NewsX/Daily Goat)
The film, which has already won Best Documentary at the Soulplace Film Festival in Italy, features European and Latvian parliamentarians exposing the alleged EBRD-Latvia scheme alongside drone footage of Putin’s superyacht, tied to beneficiaries of the protected banks.
The political stakes escalated further in April 2025, when Russia imposed sanctions on Jim Shannon, sponsor of both Parliament events and a former Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP.
Shannon’s name now joins a growing list of UK lawmakers targeted by Moscow.
Yet when the EBRD gathered for its annual meeting in London in May 2025, there was no mention of the Eurostat evidence nor was there recognition of Christmas as a whistleblower nor acknowledgement of the Parliament presentations. The EBRD was also silent in reference to Shannon’s sanctioning.
Instead, the Bank touted record profits and emphasized its support for Ukraine.
Unanswered questions continue to mount, say sources close to the EBRD. These are:
Why have the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and the European Commission’s Eurostat failed to act?
Why does the EBRD remain insulated despite mounting links between Putin, offshore wealth, and Western financial institutions?
More revelations may be forthcoming, including new evidence tied to Putin’s yacht seized in Italy, alleged inaction by regulators, and connections reaching into Europe, Britain, the United States as well as Bank of Cyprus, sources tell Daily Goat.