Latgale District Court has ordered Riga City Council to reinstate Jānis Vaivods, who was previously accused of bribery, as Director of the Department of Outdoor Space and Mobility.
According to the court’s ruling available to LETA, the court has decided to satisfy Vaivods’ counterclaim against the Riga Municipality for suspension. The court has annulled his suspension.
The court has also satisfied Vaivods’ counter claim against the municipality on the enforcement of remuneration lost to the suspension worth EUR 26 451.
As LETA was told by the city’s Executive Director Jānis Lange, the municipal administration will respect the court’s ruling and will reinstate Vaivods effective today.
It is the court’s opinion that as long as Vaivods is not found guilty of corruption, he is innocent, said Lange, adding that Vaivods has yet to recover the employer’s trust.
This means the employer will look for ways to use Vaivods’ professional skills while also keeping him away from finances, added Lange.
As reported, the Prosecutor’s Office had previously submitted to the Court of Economic Affairs a criminal case in which the former Acting Director of the Outdoor Space and Mobility Department of the Riga City Council Vaivods and businessman Pavels Tomiļins are accused of offering a bribe of EUR 50 000 to a public official of the Ministry of Transport.
The case involves plots of land near Riga Airport. By the decision of the Riga City Council of the 3rd of July 2012, the municipality transferred for privatisation 22 unused plots of land near Riga Airport, which were sold at an auction announced by the municipality on the 15th of April 2022, the prosecutor’s office told LETA. On the 28th of April 2022, a lease purchase agreement was concluded between the Riga Municipality and the winner of the auction, with which the said plots of land were purchased.
The investigation found that a consulting contract was concluded between the winner of the auction and the company of the accused entrepreneur even before the start of the auction, among other things, for the provision of assistance in order to achieve the best possible result in the auction of the said plots of land, as well as to ensure the best possible conditions for their purchase.
In addition, a preliminary land purchase agreement was also concluded, with which two of the aforementioned plots of land, which would be purchased at an auction announced by the Riga City Council, would be sold to the company of the accused entrepreneur, which, according to the information available to LETA, is “Ošānis” LLC.
During the period from the sale of the aforementioned plots of land until the end of 2023, several decisions were taken by the Riga City Court regarding the disregard of the requests for corroboration, deciding not to consolidate the change of ownership of the aforementioned plots of land in the Land Register, citing the fact that the Ministry of Transport has not expressed its unequivocal consent to the solution of the circumstances of the case proposed by the Riga Municipality and to the consideration of the issue of pre-purchase rights.
In order for the property rights of the acquired plots of land to be registered in the Land Register, the accused entrepreneur approached the acting director of the Outdoor Space and Mobility Department of the former Riga City Council, so that he, through mutual acquaintances with the Ministry of Transport officials, would offer the institution’s official EUR 50 000. LETA previously reported that this official was the now former employee of the office of the Mayor of Riga Viļnis Ķirsis (JV), advisor to the current Minister of Traffic Kaspars Briškens (“Progressive”) Janis Meirans.
The bribe was intended for the official, using his official position, to get the Ministry to waive the right of pre-purchase in respect of the plots of land located on the territory of the airport, and they would pass into the ownership of the winner of the auction and the successively accused entrepreneur company. Later, this intention of the two defendants was also realized, the prosecutor’s office reports.
Since in the course of the investigation it was established that the offering of a bribe was made in the interests of a legal person, proceedings were also initiated regarding the application of a coercive measure to a legal person.
The case has been sent to the Court of Economic Affairs in accordance with the general procedure against the accused persons and the application of the coercive measure to “Ošānis” LLC, the agency LETA reported.
It has already been reported that the allegations were sparked by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB). The criminal proceedings were initiated by KNAB on the 8th of January, 2024.
More on this topic: Former acting head of Riga’s Department for Spatial Planning and Mobility accused of bribery