Latvija in brief - 2010-01-06

Jan 06, 2010

The decision Ivars Godmanis’ (Latvia’s First Party/Latvia’s Way) government made to take over Parex bank rescued the banking sector of the entire Baltic Sea region, believes European Parliament member Roberts Zile (For Fatherland And Freedom/LNNK), reports LETA. “It was not just about Parex and the Latvian banking system. We and our taxpayers’ money saved the entire European financial system,” proclaimed Zile in an interview with daily Neatkariga. Zile said that he had to participate in rather heated debates in the European Parliament regarding the best ways to tackle the crisis in Eastern and Central Europe. “Also present was Commissioner Almunia, who a month earlier had taught us how to exit the crisis,” Zile said. “[The IMF] gives us money, but, in fact, this is only meant for maintenance of the financial system,” Zile notes. “To put it bluntly, we are being lent money so we could pay our debts to Swedish banks. That is not aid. That is an injection to keep us alive.” 

The Riga District Court sentenced three men, charged with the murder of Ella Ivanova, owner of the dental clinic Elladent, to prison but acquitted one former suspect, Asifs Handzanovs, of wrongdoing, reports LETA. Businessman Igors Ivanovs was charged with planning the murder of his wife Ella Ivanova and other crimes and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Prosecutor Ieva Paeglite had demanded a prison sentence of 17 years. Ludvigs Antonovs, who committed the actual murder, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Vitalijs Mamedovs, who organized the murder, was given 11 years in the slammer. The former suspect, Handzanovs, previously detained on the suspicion of committing the murder, was acquitted. All the men pleaded not guilty. Ella Ivanova was shot dead in the courtyard of her house in Riga’s Priedkalne district on Jan. 7, 2008.

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