Lembergs the leading man no longer a support act

Apr 28, 2008
By Mike Collier

RIGA – Aivars Lembergs, one of Latvia’s cadre of high-profile businessmen-cum-politicians, took center stage to deliver an hour-long rebuke to the press, April 28.

Portraying himself as the victim of unethical journalists engaged in a disinformation campaign against him, Lembergs insisted that media outlets had consistently refused to give his side of the story in reporting his long-running trial and related matters.

Lembergs, who has close ties with the Greens and Farmers Union political party, currently faces a sizeable array of charges including bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. He is also a long-time mayor of the port city of Ventspils.

When Lembergs arrived at his press conference in blue pinstripe suit and red tie, he also sported the neck brace that he habitually wears at his court appearance. However, by the time he had made his way from the rear of the room to the front, he had removed the medical support and conducted the remainder of the press conference without suffering obvious discomfort, though it remained on display on the table beside him. He did remind reporters that he still needed to make frequent visits to his physician.

Frequently referring to himself in the third person and making liberal use of rhetorical questions throughout, Lembergs portrayed himself as a man of the people not prepared to have his rights violated by state employees and a biased media elite.

His counter-blast came within hours of press reports that Aleksejs Loskutovs, head of the Latvian Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), had asked the Prosector General's Office to look into remarks Lembergs is alleged to make about him in a forthcoming interview with the men’s magazine Klubs.

Loskutovs intimated that he may seek to take Lembergs to court if the remarks do transpire to be defamatory. Lembergs batted away questions about hisKlubs interview by telling journalists to read the interview for themselves. A reference he makes to “Alyosha” [the familiar Russian form of ‘Aleksejs’] in the interview could be taken to mean any one of numerous Alyoshas in the country, Lembergs claimed.

Loskutovs isn’t the only person threatening legal action. Part of Lembergs’ lengthy tirade focussed on a threat to take the Latvian state to the European Court of Human Rights over the circumstances of his arrest, a subsequent period of house arrest and the conduct of his trial, which he described as an “absolutely abnormal situation.” He said he would consider seeking compensation for false imprisonment and the distress the case had caused him.

Earlier Lembergs questioned whether the use of state funds to prosecute him was in the public interest.

He also spoke in defence of Ina Gudele, the Minister for E-governance, who resigned last week when it emerged that her ministry had spent 800 lats of public money on her birthday party. Lembergs questioned why the affair had made major headlines and sparked widespread condemnation, suggesting that had Gudele simply awarded herself a bonus of similar proportions, no-one would have taken any notice.