Following a request from former Saeima deputy Ivars Zariņš a criminal procedure has commenced over the procurement of nearly one million faulty respirators at the start of the pandemic, as reported by Harmony representatives.
When he was still a member of the Saeima in February, Zariņš turned to the Prosecutor General’s Office with a request, presenting facts related to a procurement of individual protective gear from LLC Titled – nearly one million faulty respirators. He requested authorities to evaluate if this procurement was justified and if it served state interests.
Latvian State Police Economic Crimes Enforcement Office has decided to commence a criminal procedure in relation to the procurement of respirators by the State Centre for Defence Military Objects and Procurement from the aforementioned company on 9 April 2020.
Previously Zariņš performed parliamentary monitoring. He submitted to the Saeima and the Prime Minister requests regarding the ministers responsible for this procurement, as confirmed by the political party.
The politician believes those responsible for this procurement have not been able to explain that the procurement was definitely in public interests.
Zariņš previously asked the Office of the Prosecutor General and Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity to step in and perform necessary activities to check facts reported by him and determine if actions of the officials and LLC Titled in the procurement and its monitoring do not contain signs of a crime.
Harmony party notes that the now ex-Saeima deputy had previously performed monitoring of procurement of vaccines.