The Supreme Court (SC) plenary, after evaluating the results of an internal inquiry, has found no grounds to dismiss Prosecutor General Juris Stukāns, SC Chief Justice Aigars Strupišs informed journalists on Monday.
The Chief Justice initiated the inquiry into possible legal violations by the Prosecutor General after reviewing the circumstances described in a whistleblower’s report.
Strupišs acknowledged that part of the whistleblower’s claims—that instructions had been issued in a criminal case contrary to the supervising prosecutor’s opinion—were confirmed and could potentially constitute a violation under specific circumstances. This was sufficient reason to initiate a formal review. Senator Aija Branta was authorized to carry out the substantive evaluation.
As previously reported, the process of nominating the next Prosecutor General was suspended until the inquiry was completed.
Stukāns is one of three candidates for the position. The Judicial Council had initially planned to interview the candidates on the 25th of April. Stukāns has stated that he will not withdraw his candidacy
The SC had received a submission alleging that the Prosecutor General had violated the Prosecution Office Law and the Criminal Law article on “Disclosure of Non-Public Information.” These alleged violations involved issuing instructions contrary to a supervising prosecutor’s professional opinion and disclosing investigative secrets to Members of Parliament.
Prosecutor Viorika Jirgena confirmed to Latvian Television that she was the whistleblower in this case.
The inquiry concluded that the complaint preliminarily met the criteria defined in the Whistleblower Protection Law. In deciding whether to proceed with the report, the Chief Justice considered two main factors:
The legal plausibility of a violation – whether the report’s content suggested at least a hypothetical attempt to influence a prosecutor against their conviction using the methods described.
The prima facie credibility of the circumstances – whether the events described in the report were at least partially confirmed by other individuals involved.
The Chief Justice found that the claim of issuing instructions contrary to a prosecutor’s conviction was partially confirmed and could represent a violation, justifying the review of the facts in depth.
However, the inquiry did not proceed with the allegation regarding the potential disclosure of investigative secrets, as there was not even preliminary evidence supporting this claim. Therefore, those assertions remain speculative. The Chief Justice noted that he lacks the legal authority to investigate potential criminal offenses—that is the responsibility of other legal bodies as defined by law.
The television program “What’s Happening in Latvia?” reported that the whistleblower’s complaint concerned Stukāns’ conduct in the so-called “former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš flight case.”
Several sources confirmed to the show that multiple meetings had been held at the Prosecutor’s Office involving investigators from the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), prosecutors of various ranks, and Stukāns himself. A major point of contention at these meetings was whether there were sufficient grounds to charge individuals—including the former Prime Minister, his chief of staff, and the State Chancellery director.
At the end of February, a whistleblower report alleged that Stukāns had overstepped his authority in these meetings.
It was also reported that on the 5th of March Stukāns confirmed to the media that the Prosecutor’s Office had decided to take over from KNAB the criminal investigation into the alleged misuse of public funds in connection with charter flights used for Kariņš’ official travel.
The competition for the Prosecutor General’s post was announced because Stukāns’ term ends on the 11th of July.
Stukāns, a former Chair of the Riga Regional Court’s Criminal Division, was unanimously confirmed as Prosecutor General by the Saeima on the 18th of June 2020.