Replacement of the investigator and creation of an investigative committee was an unnecessary and useless step in the investigation of the disciplinary case involving Riga City Council’s Transport Department, says Delna – Society for Openness.
On the 16th of June, Riga City Council’s executive director issued the order to initiate a disciplinary case to investigate possible violations committed in the city council’s Transport Department.
The executive director’s advisor Māris Knoks was appointed as the investigator of the disciplinary case.
Knoks has investigated all disciplinary cases in Riga City Council since 2020. However, according to Vice-Mayor Vilnis Ķirsis’ application, at the start of June an order was issued to replace the disciplinary case’s investigator. It was decided then to compose an independent investigative committee.
According to Delna, the argument about a possible conflict of interests with Knoks is unjustified because he was involved in the initial service inspection and preparation of the initial order.
Additionally, Delna stresses there are no conditions to imply that Knoks would be interested in a specific outcome of the case.
Secondly, people without experience in investigation of disciplinary cases have been appointed to work in the investigative committee. This seems illogical, considering that the purpose of this committee is “to ensure an independent, objective, fair and multi-sided investigation of the situation”.
Delna says the decision on the creation of an investigative committee was made on the 29th of June and signed on the 3rd of July.
Additionally, initially one of the candidates selected for the committee was a person who reported the conflict of interests to begin with.
This resulted in more delays, which caused the committee to convene for the first time no sooner than the 11th of July, which was six days before the end of the investigation of the disciplinary case.
Delna also doubts that when he initiated a change of investigators, Ķirsis had no idea this process would result in such a delay, causing the committee to be unable to perform their duties within the allotted period of time.
Delna participated in both meetings of the investigative committee – on the 11th and 13th of July.
During the meeting participants talked about what else needs to be investigated and what evidence needs to be acquired to ensure members of the committee have a clear picture of what happened. However, due to the lack of time no additional information was requested.
“It should also be stressed that the investigative committee established as its goal the investigation of facts and arguments related to the order issued on the 16th of July 2023, not the continuation of the work of the investigator. As a result, the committee concluded that it is impossible to confirm or deny the facts related to the order, as is a shortage of necessary information,” Delna’s report mentions.
According to Delna, the task for the investigative committee was not clearly defined from the start.
Although Delna participated in meetings of the investigative committee and agreed that the time period provided was not enough to prepare a full-sided report, the association does not agree that it is necessary to re-evaluate all of the facts of the case again.
In response to Delna’s conclusions, the committee responded that its members had a duty to evaluate all facts again, because it was composed specifically because there was distrust of the previous investigator.
Delna does believe the investigation started off correctly, in accordance with the procedure, until the decision was made to create a separate committee and take over the investigation.
This decision was as unjustified as it was illogical and wasteful.
Despite the complicated work schedule, however, Delna believes the committee made the correct conclusion – that it is not possible to check all the evidence in such a limited time frame.
Delna concludes that this disciplinary case’s outcome proves that it is possible to use legal means to ensure a procedure ends without any result.
BNN previously reported that Riga City Council Transport Department’s acting director Jānis Vaivods is accused of wasting several million euros, as announced by the municipality’s executive director Jānis Lange at a press-conference on Friday, the 16th of June.
Lange reported that after checking information reported by a whistle-blower it was concluded that the Transport Department does not have an appropriate system of records that would inspire confidence about the volume of work done.
Also read: Riga City Council’s public campaign expenses at EUR 1.3 million during Staķis’ term