Latvia's Prosecutor's Office investigates possible corruption in previous government
Latvia's Prosecutor's Office and Corruption Prevention Bureau are examining whether the previous government's decision to reduce state forest sales prices for timber companies was justified. A former agriculture minister is also involved in the investigation.
Latvia's Prosecutor's Office investigates possible corruption in previous government
Latvia's Prosecutor's Office, together with the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, is examining whether the previous government's decision to reduce state forest sales prices for timber companies was lawful and justified. This case has attracted considerable attention in the country.
Former agriculture minister Armands Krauze has come under suspicion. In a television interview, he emphasised that the law has not been violated. However, the State Audit Office and the Prosecutor's Office take a different view.
The State Forest Agency manages nearly half of Latvia's forests, and two years ago its net turnover reached 600 million euros. A State Audit Office review found that the company's management had been insufficiently careful — forest felling and dividend forecasting were not properly regulated. The government's decision to support timber processing companies by setting them a more favourable price could have caused the State Forest Agency losses of up to 50 million euros.
Latvian Prosecutor General Armīns Meisters explains that the investigation is proceeding in two directions. The first is connected with agriculture ministry employees who may have unlawfully used their position to provide timber companies with illegal support. The second direction concerns State Forest Agency employees who had every opportunity to prevent damage to the state but failed to do so.
Currently, Latvia is investigating several corruption cases simultaneously, involving former high-ranking state officials. For example, two cases involving former state secretaries are being investigated at the same time, one of which has already gone to court. However, the timber processing companies case will enter history by virtue of the fact that a search was carried out at agriculture minister Armands Krauze's residence on the very morning when Prime Minister Evika Siliņa announced the government's resignation.
Among ten individuals who have come under investigation, there is also the former agriculture minister. He lost his ministerial position but returned to the Saeima, believing that neither he nor the government is to blame because the calculated possible damage is hypothetical rather than real.
Krauze emphasises: "Two and a half years ago, the price at which our forest company sold timber was significantly higher than in neighbouring countries. Compared with other Baltic states, the difference was 20 per cent, and with Scandinavia as much as 40 per cent. That is why the government decided that timber processing companies would be able to purchase forests at the price that formed in the auction that took place at that time. The Latvian government acted in the same way as Sweden."
In recently concluded negotiations for the new government, it was decided that the Greens and Farmers Union, represented by Krauze, would continue to lead the agriculture ministry, despite the new government head Andris Kivičs having promised to fight corruption.
Source: ERR err.ee.
Source: ERR