On Tuesday, 31 May, Latvian parliament’s Mandate, Ethics and Submissions Committee supported the legislative project that permits the start of criminal prosecution of the chairman of Saeima’s Budget and Finance Committee Mārtiņš Bondars.
Now the Saeima will need to vote on this.
Bondars maintained during the meeting that he is not guilty of doing anything wrong, stressing that he did not break the law in any way. At the same time, the politician invited colleagues to support the decision to allow him to be criminally prosecuted.
Saeima Rules of Procedure provide that the decision to agree on commencement of criminal prosecution of a member of the Saeima, his or her detainment, search or other kind of restriction of personal liberty is to be decided by the Saeima based on a report from the Mandate Committee.
During the meeting of the committee it was mentioned that the criminal case in question is linked to property owned by Bondars family and mutual contracts signed between family members.
Bondars previously said the issue is related to «an old case».
According to information from LETA, in response to the request from the prosecution office to allow his criminal prosecution, Bondars announced plans to step down as chairman of Budget and Finance Committee and not run in 14th Saeima elections.
LTV reported that the request to permit Bondars’ prosecution is related to the case that revolves around a suspicious contract with his wife. This contract guarantees the house owned by the family will not be confiscated in the criminal case regarding the damages caused by the now liquidated Latvijas Krājbanka.
If the Saeima permits criminal prosecution of one of its members, this person will still be able to continue working in the Saeima, participate in meetings and committees, including vote and receive a full wage.