On Thursday, the 29th of February, Riga City Court gave former Minister of Health Ilze Viņķele a full acquittal in the criminal case concerning inaction from a public official.
The ruling is subject to appeal at Riga Regional Court.
Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Operation and International Cooperation of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia accused Viņķele of failure to fulfil the duties of a public official. This is punishable with up to three years in prison, temporary deprivation of freedom, probation, community service or a fine.
Viņķele was presented with criminal charges for her failure to ensure a Covid-19 vaccination strategy that would include procurement of vaccines, their storage, logistics, general competence from officials and sufficient medical resources to ensure successful vaccination procedure to stem the spread of the virus in Latvia.
The prosecution office notes that Viņķele knew about the possible availability of Covid-19 vaccines on the global market in 2021 and that Latvia, as an EU member state supports the agreement on the procurement of vaccines on behalf of member states. She had a duty to prepare such a strategy by the time the decision was made on the number of vaccine doses to be procured for Latvia.
According to the prosecution, by not preparing this strategy, Viņķele failed to perform the actions that required by law and the assigned task in order to prevent damage to the interests of a person protected by law, thereby causing significant damage to the interests of a person protected by law.
The prosecution office stresses that no person is considered guilty until his or her guilt has been proven in accordance with procedures listed in the Criminal Procedure Law.
In November 2020, the EU offered Member States to centrally procure Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer/Biontech. According to the opinion of the Disciplinary Committee of the Ministry of Health, Latvia could have applied for 841 342 doses, but decided to purchase only 97 500. In turn, instead of the 420 707 vaccines available in the next round, Latvia decided to purchase 100 000. As a result, vaccination against Covid-19 in Latvia started much slower than in other EU countries.
When information about the refusal to procure a sufficient number of vaccines came to light, then the PM Krišjānis Kariņš requested Viņķele to step down. The prosecution office later initiated an investigation.
Also read: State Audit reaches verdict in investigation of ex-PM Kariņš’s special flights
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Covid-19 scandal: court finds former Minister of Health not guilty in case concerning negligence
