On Thursday, Prosecutor General Armīns Meisters filed an application with the Constitutional Court in the so-called timber industry case, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
In the application, the Prosecutor General asks the Constitutional Court to declare invalid from the moment of their adoption two provisions of Cabinet decisions that instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to introduce a price adjustment in 2024 and continue it for a year under long-term contracts concluded by Latvijas valsts meži (LVM) for the supply of Grade II conifer sawlogs.
“This is a legal avenue available to the Prosecutor’s Office to ensure compliance with the law. It is important to note that there has been no such precedent to date, and we are using all possibilities provided by law to ensure that the actions of state institutions comply with the Constitution and the law. Applying to the Constitutional Court in this case is the next legal step in having the matter assessed by an independent court,” Meisters said.
In his application to the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor General argues that the contested Cabinet decisions are incompatible with the Constitution, national legislation and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. According to the Prosecutor’s Office,
the Cabinet adopted the contested decisions without an appropriate statutory mandate
allowing public assets to be disposed of at a price lower than stipulated in contracts concluded under civil law.
On the 16th of June, the Prosecutor General submitted a formal protest to the Cabinet demanding that the provisions in question be revoked with effect from the date of their adoption. However, the Cabinet refused to comply with the demands contained in the protest and informed the Prosecutor General’s Office of its decision in a letter dated the 27th of July.
After assessing the arguments presented in the Cabinet’s letter, the Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the government’s actions were not justified. Accordingly, as provided for by the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor General applied to the court within one month of the deadline specified in the protest, seeking the annulment of the contested decisions.
As previously reported, an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office concluded that the Cabinet led by Evika Siliņa had acted unlawfully when instructing LVM to change its timber pricing arrangements. The Prosecutor General’s Office therefore submitted a protest to the government demanding that the decisions be revoked. The subsequent government led by Kulbergs decided not to grant the request.
Following a government meeting,
Kulbergs argued that the current government could not revoke the previous government’s decisions
on support for the timber industry because doing so was not legally possible. The Prime Minister’s communications adviser Elīna Šverna said ministers had been unanimous on the matter.
In June, Prosecutor General Meisters told LETA that the criminal investigation into the so-called timber industry case was progressing, with an increasing amount of evidence emerging and several investigative avenues becoming clearer.
“This will certainly not take years to reach a conclusion,” the Prosecutor General said in June, adding that the procedural status of those involved in the criminal proceedings had not changed. No additional individuals had been added to the case, nor had anyone been removed from it.
The ten people against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated and whose premises were subject to procedural actions on May 14 include former agriculture minister and current Saeima member Armands Krauze (ZZS); former Ministry of Agriculture State Secretary Raivis Kronbergs; current State Secretary Ģirts Krūmiņš; Ilze Silamiķele, Deputy Head of the ministry’s Forest Sector Strategy and Support Division; former LVM Chairman of the Management Board Pēters Putniņš; LVM Supervisory Board Chair Zane Driņķe; adviser to the LVM Supervisory Board Chair Valdis Lūks; Latvian Forest Industry Federation Vice-President Kristaps Klauss; Pata Strenči employee and Valmiera Municipality councillor Reinis Muižnieks; and Pata owner and CEO Uldis Mierkalns.
No preventive measures have been imposed on any of them,
as such measures can only be applied to individuals who have formally been designated as suspects or accused persons.
The criminal proceedings launched in March are examining two main lines of investigation. The first concerns Ministry of Agriculture officials who may have abused their official positions to unlawfully secure support for the timber industry.
The second concerns possible negligence by LVM officials who allegedly had every opportunity to prevent losses to the state but failed to act in accordance with the law. The case may involve alleged inaction by LVM officials that caused losses of approximately fifty million euros to the Latvian state.
Mierkalns and other individuals who are not public officials are suspected of potentially assisting in the abuse of official position.
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