Latvian State Chancellery (VK) has initiated a disciplinary case to verify if there was a disciplinary violation committed regarding erroneous information provided on the private flights used by the now former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
The special flights used by then the Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and his accompanying delegations between 2021 and 2023 caused a backlash from Latvian residents. Initially VK reported information that these flights cost the state treasury EUR 613 830, but the special flights to the Council of Europe worth EUR 750 000 were covered by the European Union (EU).
LTV programme “Kas notiek Latvijā?” [What’s happening in Latvia?] reported that even though it was previously reported that Kariņš’s travel costs were covered from the Council of Europe budget, Latvia’s budget still took on a portion of costs.
The State Chancellery has released a statement. In it the institution admits the previous information about those flights was incorrect. VK representatives explain that the discrepancy with the numbers came about because two flights took place at the end of the year, when the funds allocated from the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe had already been used within the respective year, and the redistribution of funds between departments was no longer possible. Consequently, part of the cost of flights is covered by the base budget.
As for the 30th of May 2022 flight to Brussels, the State Chancellery noted that the travel costs of two representatives were not included in the funding from the Council of Europe because these people performed support duties during the trip – they did not participate in discussions.
The State Chancellery has initiated a disciplinary case to check if there was a disciplinary violation committed,
as well as the liability of the specific officials involved in providing potentially erroneous information about the costs of special flights.
Also read: Latvian PM promises to discuss with State Chancellery new facts about ex-PM’s private flights
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