In the case concerning former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš’s special flights, the only accused, former State Chancellery (VK) Director Jānis Citskovskis, has not received a response for more than a year from law-enforcement authorities to his submission about attempts to influence him, as he said on TV3’s 900 Seconds.
In his view, there are “many oddities” in the case. “I see that in processes involving high-ranking political officials there are many unanswered questions,” he said.
Citskovskis stated that more than a year ago he turned to law-enforcement authorities regarding attempts to influence him so that he would assume responsibility and declare that he had made the decision on the choice of these flights.
“There are unclear questions in the case about the criteria under which decisions were made on communications monitoring. And many other things that do not inspire confidence that this process is fair and equal, and that there is no political interference or pressure,” he said.
He believes the court proceedings could last for years.
The first hearing is tentatively scheduled for April next year, with four hearings pencilled in, he noted.
As reported, the prosecution has referred the Kariņš flight case to court, with Citskovskis the sole defendant.
Citskovskis previously told LETA he does not understand the charges brought against him. He also said he had asked the prosecution in writing to explain what he is accused of.
“They gave me a three-page essay from which it is difficult to understand what I supposedly did,” the former official said. The prosecution allegedly refused to explain the charges in more detail. “I do not understand the charges and I do not agree with them. I am ready to prove my innocence in court,” Citskovskis declared.
Last summer,
Citskovskis said he would approach law-enforcement authorities regarding attempts to influence him.
“There is written material, there are emails with electronic files, where you can clearly see what each person wrote and what opinions they wanted expressed. And then there followed an oral conversation in which two officials of the Prime Minister’s Office, including the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Secretary Dace Kļaviņa, tried to persuade me to give the desired statement in exchange for not assessing my responsibility,” he alleged at the time.
The Prime Minister’s Parliamentary Secretary Kļaviņa and other officials then denied Citskovskis’s claims about their involvement in the special flight matter.
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) stated that it had taken note of Citskovskis’s revelations about pressure exerted on him.
Last week, the prosecution informed LETA that
the former VK director has been charged with failure to perform the duties of a public official,
resulting in serious consequences. The case initially included another person with the right to a defence, but that person’s status was changed and they are now a witness.
According to the prosecution, the pre-trial investigation also assessed the possible responsibility of the former Prime Minister, several VK officials and staff of the Prime Minister’s Office. Ultimately, it was concluded that the VK Director, as head of the institution, was responsible for the legality and efficiency of the use of state budget funds for services related to the Prime Minister’s foreign missions.
As a result of the official’s inaction, Latvia suffered losses amounting to €89,382, which under the law constitutes a criminal offence with serious consequences, the indictment states.
During the pre-trial proceedings it was found that, in four of the Prime Minister’s foreign missions,
the VK unlawfully ordered and paid for five special charter flights,
despite the possibility of purchasing regular commercial tickets in good time for members of the Prime Minister’s delegation.
By using regular commercial flights without additional costs related to overnight stays, the VK could have saved 89,382.90 euros in state budget funds. In assessing the damage to the state budget, the prosecution took into account the methodology and conclusions of the State Audit Office’s review of special flights used for the Prime Minister’s missions, which found unlawful use of state budget funds and potential savings from using regular flights.
Although the prosecution did not dispute the Prime Minister’s power to decide independently on the need for foreign missions, investigators concluded that the VK Director, as head of the institution responsible by law for the material, technical and organisational support of the Prime Minister’s activities, failed to ensure compliance with the principles set out in the Law on the Prevention of Squandering of Public Funds and Property and with Cabinet regulations limiting payments for services related to travel expenses in official missions.
The prosecution also noted that the special charter flights were paid for from state budget funds allocated to the VK for safe prime-ministerial flights during the Covid-19 pandemic under the 2022 state budget, whereas the missions in question were organised after the end of the state of emergency.
The prosecution therefore concluded that the VK Director did not fulfil his duties
under the State Administration Structure Law, the Law on Budget and Financial Management and other regulations to control the legality and efficiency of budget spending at the VK, nor did he take action or issue instructions to his subordinates to cancel the unlawfully ordered charter flights.
At the end of March 2024, the Prosecutor General’s Office launched and transferred to KNAB a criminal process on possible large-scale misappropriation related to the use of charter flights for the former Prime Minister’s foreign missions. The case was later taken over by the prosecution.
Separately, the State Audit Office, in its audit, pointed to significantly higher unjustified expenditures than those cited by the prosecution. According to the auditors, unlawful and uneconomical actions in organising Kariņš’s special flights caused around €545,000 in unjustified costs to the Latvian and Council of the European Union budgets.
The State Audit Office noted that information obtained during the audit indicates that decision-making and implementation regarding the use of special flights for foreign missions in practice involved the then Prime Minister Kariņš, his direct subordinates at the Prime Minister’s Office, and the State Chancellery. At the time, the Prime Minister’s Office was headed by current MP Jānis Patmalnieks (New Unity), and the State Chancellery by Citskovskis.
Initially, in connection with the special-flights scandal, Citskovskis was suspended. He later left the State Chancellery.
Read also: Criminal case on use of special charter flights for Kariņš’s foreign visits sent to court