Māris Sprūds declined to tell BNS who had posted bail when he was released on Feb. 16. Attorney Jānis Rozenbergs, however, confirmed on Friday that Sprūds' bail was posted by the latter's brother.

According to the database at Firmas.lv, Kristaps Sprūds owns, in full or in part, several companies, including the law firm MAX Grup, which operated with a profit of €529,525 in 2016.

Portal Kompromat.lv reports that the money for Sprūds' bail had actually been provided by Latvian state-owned road maintenance company Latvijas Autoceļu Uzturētājs board member Anastasija Udalova, who is Estonian millionaire Oleg Ossinovski's girlfriend. Ossinovski, in turn, has been charged with bribing Uģis Magonis who was then head of the railroad company Latvijas Dzelzceļš. Latvian Television's "De Facto" also reported on Sunday that "Ossinovski's fiancée helped release insolvency administrator Sprūds."

Udalova told BNS that she had not posted bail for Sprūds, but that she had lent the money to a good friend of hers. Udalova declined to say whether she was in a relationship with Ossinovski and whether Kristaps Sprūds was the good friend to whom she had given the money.

Udalova has been working as board member at Latvijas Autoceļu Uzturētājs since April 2016. Prior to that, she worked for attorney at law Saulvedis Varpins, at Riga City Council, and as the head of the procurement department at Latvijas Autoceļu Uzturētājs.

As reported, it took Sprūds two days to raise the bail money, and he was released from prison on Feb. 16. He had been in custody since June 2017.

Sprūds has been charged with extortion and money laundering. Charges have been pressed against five more persons, including former insolvency administrator Ilmārs Krūms. The incident is linked with the liquidation of Trasta Komercbanka.

Latvian publication Ir recently reported that the investigation of Latvian central bank governor Ilmārs Rimšēvičs is also linked with Trasta Komercbanka, as according to paper, Rimšēvičs is suspected of having accepted bribes from the bank four years ago when Trasta Komercbanka was still operating. In addition, Rimšēvičs has confirmed that he has met with Sprūds on multiple occasions. Rimšēvičs' bail was also posted by a "good friend" and his attorney is Saulvedis Varpins, for whom Ossinovski's girlfriend also worked.