Lithuania: Banking Scandal | European Journal
Large numbers of Lithuanians are facing a cash crisis. Snoras Bank, one of the country's leading financial institutions, was seized by the government amid major fraud allegations. Elderly people were hardest-hit at first, since many of them don't have ATM cards. Instead, they're accustomed to cashing their pension checks at the counter. Now, even the automated teller machines are out of money. The owners of Snoras, Russian financier Vladimir Antonov and a Lithuanian partner, have been accused of using the bank's capital on business deals, including to buy Swedish carmaker Saab - a deal that fell through. Antonov has since been detained in London.