Her ambassadorial post does not allow Solvita Āboltiņa to comment on domestic policy development, including the claims regarding the possible rigging of 12th Saeima election results in her favour.
LETA asked Latvian ambassador to Holland Solvita Āboltiņa if she is aware of the reasons why “SOAAR” IT company manager Renārs Kadžulis could be interested in attacking New Unity’s reputation and whether she allows there may have been some backstage attempts to rig election results to ensure her election to the Saeima.
In her response, Āboltiņa thanked LETA for their interest and stressed that ambassadors are not allowed to comment domestic policy developments.
As previously reported, Kadžulis, who is the accused in the criminal case concerning fraud in a procurement of the Central Elections Commission, claimed in an interview to LTV that in autumn 2014, during the 12th Saeima elections, he received a phone call from then the secretary general of Unity Artis Kampars late at night, in which the latter told him he was worried Āboltiņa may not have enough votes to be elected to the Saeima.
“We need you to make sure she is elected,” Kampars said ten years ago, according to Kadžulis. “I asked him if he truly understood what he was asking – forging election results. I told him I would never do such a thing. I said no. He [Kampars] then said – so there will be all kinds of consequences,” Kadžulis told LTV.
He added the only proof to his words is the fact that Āboltiņa was not elected in the end.
Nevertheless, she did enter the 12th Saeima after one of Unity’s other members – Jānis Junkurs – decided to put down his mandate out of the blue. Junkurs claimed he received an attractive job offer from a company in Hong Kong. However, no Hong Kong company was mentioned in his state official’s declaration. Which suggests he left the Saeima specifically to give his spot to Āboltiņa.
Kadžulis said he did report everything to the Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB), but no action was taken. “I reported this to SAB multiple times. You think anything happened? It’s like bashing against a wall, the same with KNAB. At one point I gave up on trying to report anything, because no one would do anything,” said Kadžulis.
Commenting on Kadžulis’ claims, specifically how he reported information to an SAB employee twice, SAB told LETA that all information related to his claims will be reviewed by the prosecution office.
On Thursday, the 25th of April, SAB told LETA that the bureau received no official applications from Kadžulis about any attempts to fake results of the 12th Saeima elections in 2014. No such applications was received from him or “SOAAR”.
SAB added that according to the Law on State Security Institutions, the Prosecutor General and his specially authorized prosecutors supervise the operational activities, intelligence and counter-intelligence processes of state security institutions and the system of protection of official secrets. During supervision, they are entitled to get acquainted with the documents, materials and information held by national security authorities, the bureau reported.
SAB also reminds that Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs has ordered the Prosecutor General’s Office to check Kadžulis’ claims. “All of the available information will be reviewed. SAB is unable to provide more comments regarding this topic,” the bureau stated.
When asked why SAB doesn’t have a single application registered about this scandal, Kadžulis told LETA there is a difference between a notification and an application. He said he met with two SAB inspectors and told them what happened. Those SAB inspectors, he said, did not write down what he told them. The businessman said he knows the names of both of those SAB inspectors. However, he said he suspects he cannot reveal their names without permission from SAB.
Kadžulis said he also turned to other institutions. He did not say which.
Kadžulis explains the 10-year gap between the event and his interview to LTV programme “Kas notiek Latvijā?” with how the interview to a public media was one more opportunity to report on what happened, especially after security services failed to respond to his initial report. Information was reported live on public media to give society and the media an opportunity to react.
Former secretary general of Unity Artis Kampars told the programme “Kas notiek Latvijā?” [What’s happening in Latvia?] that he considers Kadžulis’ claims about Unity’s alleged attempts to influence vote-counting results in the Saeima elections of 2024 absurd and untrue.
Also read: BNN ASKS | Politologist: claims about requests to falsify election results is the final “nail” for perception of legitimacy of power
Also read: Election scandal in Latvia: Kampars responds to accusations of political interference
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