A new twist has occurred in the case regarding the concession agreement concluded by the Jelgava County Council with SIA “Zemgales Health Center” (ZVC) – the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has closed it after examining the case, because it did not see any violations in the work of the officials, but the opposition member of the council has turned to the prosecutor’s office. “Daily News” program reports.
A new twist has occurred in the case regarding the concession agreement concluded by the Jelgava County Council with SIA “Zemgales Health Center” (ZVC) – the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has closed it after examining the case, because it did not see any violations in the work of the officials, but the opposition member of the council has turned to the prosecutor’s office. “Daily News” program reports.
The Jelgava City Council concluded the concession agreement with SIA “Zemgales sevanis centrs” (ZVC) in 2003, when the long-time mayor Andris Rāviņš was in power. The contract provided for annual 2% payments to the capital company from the turnover municipality. Jelgava county council opposition member Uldis Ainārs (“Jaunā Vienotība”) sees illegality in these transactions and will therefore contact the law enforcement authorities. According to his estimates, the county council has paid the company approximately one million euros over 20 years. “It was clear that another transaction was masked under the word “concession”, in fact, the transfer of the duties of the shareholder’s representative to a private person,” said Ainārs.
The Interdepartmental Coordination Center also sees possible violations and calls on the law enforcement authorities to thoroughly evaluate the actions of the decision-makers, i.e. the council. The chairman of the City Council Madars Lasmanis (“for the development of Latvia”) admitted that the municipality paid approximately 100 thousand euros annually, justifying it with 20-year-old decisions.
KNAB carried out a departmental examination of the responsibility of officials for half a year, but concluded that there is no reason to initiate criminal proceedings. “During this inspection, KNAB state officials did not detect any criminal offenses related to corruption for which responsibility is provided for in the criminal law,” explained KNAB representative Agita Antonāne.
Disagreeing with the KNAB’s opinion, MP Ainārs has now decided to appeal to the prosecutor’s office as well. Faced with the increased interest of the media, the city council made a decision a few days ago to start negotiations on the termination of the contract with SIA “Zemgales sevysans centrs”.
