Lembergs to receive compensation

Sep 02, 2008
TBT Staff

RIGA - The Justice Ministry has decided to compensate embattled Ventpils Mayor Aivars Lembergs after three separate courts found him "not guilty" for his suspected role in the "Grinbergs affair."

Lembergs had requested 104,450 lats in compensation for being wrongly accused of involvement in the affair. The Justice Ministry has decided to partially fulfill his request, but has not yet announced the amount he will be given, the LETA news agency reported on Sept. 2.

Lembergs said he was "forced to come to the conclusion" that the charges against him were unjustified, Justice Ministry Public Relations Department Director Jana Saulite told LETA.

In the case, Lembergs was accused of abuse of power by failing to carry out a government order in 2005 to give New Era party's Ojars Grinbergs a seat on Ventspils Freeport's board.

Though found not guilty in the "Grinbergs affair," the embattled mayor will still stand trial for a long list of serious charges.

Lembergs has been charged with accepting a series of bribes worth 239,670 lats (314,021 euros) in connection with extortion and abuse of power. He has also been charged with money laundering nearly 5 million lats in an organized group and drafting false documents.

Some of the other charges leveled against him include conflict of interest, providing false information to government authorities and abuse of power in conducting real estate deals for personal gain.

The materials submitted to the court surrounding the case amount to 101 volumes.

Lembergs has consistently denied all of the accusations leveled against him, calling the charges "politically motivated." He has accused a number of different rival politicians of helping orchestrate the affair.

Lembergs is still barred from resuming his duties as mayor of Ventspils. He has been kept under house arrest since July 2007, though an earlier victory for his legal team saw him able to change the place of his incarceration from his Ventspils flat to his spacious country house.

Lembergs was detained on March 14, 2007.

On Aug. 20, his case was handed over to the Kurzeme Regional Court for a hearing.

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