The ex-Mayor of Ventspils, infamous Latvian politician under international US sanctions, and the man found guilty of numerous crimes of corruption Aivars Lembers was seen sitting on the same row of seats as government representatives and President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs himself at the Latvia-Slovakia basketball match held in Arena “Riga” on Sunday, the 25th of February.
Latvian Minister of Education and Science Anda Čakša, chairman of Saeima’s Budget and Finance Committee Jānis Reirs, former President of Latvia and current president of Latvian Basketball Union Raimonds Vējonis and Latvia’s current President Edgars Rinkēvičs were sitting almost shoulder to shoulder to a man who has been identified by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control as one controlling organisations through political parties and corrupt politicians.
To find out how this situation was possible and whether Aivars Lembergs was invited to watch the game live by Latvian Basketball Union, BNN decided to contact LBS president Raimonds Vējonis.
“We send invitations to basketball clubs, who they hand those invitation to later, we don’t care.
We have certain quotas when it comes to the number of tickets to give each club so they send their own people or invite others. We also send invitations to our partners and former players, but we don’t know how they distribute those tickets,” Vējonis explains.
LBS president also says – if Ventspils Basketball Club had tickets for the first row of seats and they decided to hand one to Aivars Lembergs, then this is no surprise. “Lembergs has always had ties to basketball. He was the founder of Ventspils Basketball Club and there is nothing wrong with him coming to games.”
Raimonds Vējonis also stresses that tickets for front-row seats can be bought by anyone. He says it is entirely possible Lembergs bought the ticket, and the fact that his seat was located not far from the president and other high-ranking officials is just a coincidence. “These tickets are expensive, EUR 200, but they can be bought. The tickets we give out as invitations we pull from the field, but the rest can still be bought. We don’t know who bought them.”
When asked if there are any security risks in this case, Raimonds Vējonis said no, adding: “We were there, security was there”.
Aivars Lembergs sitting in front row (far left)Follow us on Facebook and X!