On Thursday, 16 June, Latvia’s parliament decided not to approve Ilze Znotiņa as a candidate for the post of chief of Office for Prevention of Laundering of Proceeds Derived from Criminal Activity (FID).
41 deputies voted in her favour, four abstained and 33 members of the parliament voted against. Three deputies did not participate in the vote.
Conservative party, National Alliance, Harmony and a number of other opposition deputies voted against Znotiņa’s approval as the next head of FID.
New Unity, Attīstībai/Par!, Union of Greens and Farmers, several Conservative party members and National Alliance members voted in favour of Znotiņa.
She was proposed to remain for a second term in the office.
Znotiņa was originally picked as the winner of a selection process. On 31 May the government approved her as a candidate for a second term. The Defence, Internal Affair and Corruption Committee also supported Znotiņa as a candidate.
The head of FID is appointed by the Saeima for a five-year term following a recommendation from the Cabinet of Ministers.
Znotiņa’s first term ended at the end of May.
Before joining FID Znotiņa specialised in the settlement of disputes as a sworn attorney. Her main areas of competence include regulatory issues, insolvency, bribery prevention, as well as money laundering prevention, fraud and ‘white collar’ crimes, as noted in her CV.
Znotiņa previously worked at Deloitte Legal law firm. She was in charge of fraud prevention inspections in multiple international and local companies.
Znotiņa graduated from Riga Graduate School of Law with Master’s degree in International and European Law. She also graduated from University of Latvia with a Bachelor’s degree in Law.