The head of Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), Jēkabs Straume, has ruled out the possibility that information was leaked from the bureau in the so-called timber industry case.
In an interview with TV3’s programme 900 Seconds, Straume said that “the leak itself is the fact that the media learns about criminal procedural actions before they have been completed.” However, he stressed that such actions are difficult to conceal when they take place within municipalities, ministries, or state-owned enterprises.
According to him, it is clear that in this case “journalists very quickly learned about it from their own sources, whom, of course, we are not allowed to question about such matters.” Nevertheless, he rejected the possibility that any information could have been leaked from KNAB.
As previously reported, in May law enforcement authorities carried out extensive criminal procedural activities in the so-called timber industry case and temporarily detained several public officials while those actions were being conducted.
At a press conference discussing the investigation, Latvia’s Prosecutor General,
Armīns Meisters, expressed suspicions that information about the investigative activities may have been leaked,
although it remains to be established whether this had any impact on the investigation.
“Certain facts suggest that there may have been an information leak, and I will not leave this matter without attention,” the Prosecutor General said.
He noted that it is important to determine what kind of information may have been leaked, specifically whether it could have hindered the investigation or whether it was merely general information. At the same time, Meisters stated that there is currently no basis to believe that any of the persons involved had prior knowledge of the law enforcement activities and therefore gained an opportunity to evade them.
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