The audit performed on the private flights used by Latvia ex-Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš showed signs of illegal and uneconomic conduct, as Latvijas Radio was told by State Auditor Edgars Korčagins.
The State Audit provided recommendations to fix the situation. Information detailing illegalities was forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Procurement Monitoring Bureau.
Korčagins mentioned that the State Chancellery previously challenged the State Audit’s report on the PM’s special flights.
In total, the State Audit looked at 53 of Kariņš’s foreign missions. In 21 of them the PM and his delegations used regular flights, whereas in 32 cases they used special flights.
The State Audit will report on results of the audit of Kariņš’s special flights today. The audit concerns the special flights that were used between the 1st of January 2021 and the 31st of December 2023.
LETA previously reported that the special flights Kariņš had used during his term as Latvian PM received a massive public backlash. According to information from the State Chancellery, between 2021 and 2023 the state budget paid EUR 613 830 on these flights. Together with the money provided by the EU, expenses reached EUR 1.36 million.
In order to obtain true information about the actual financial situation and the budget management process for 2023, the State Audit carried out an audit and made a decision, but did not disclose it publicly, because the State Chancellery contested the interim report.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office has initiated and handed over to the Office for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption for investigation criminal proceedings for alleged squandering of state budget funds with the use of private flights on foreign missions of former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV).
Also read: Latvian minister “sweats bullets”. Agnese Logina interviewed by A.Kaimiņš in “Suņu būda V2.0”
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