European Parliament waves parliamentary immunity for MEP Usakovs

  • 2021-11-11
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - The European Parliament has waived parliamentary immunity for MEP and former Riga mayor Nils Usakovs (Harmony).

Usakovs will maintain his MEP mandate.

Commenting on the European Parliament's decision, the politician told LETA that he has nothing to fear. He said that he himself called on lawmakers to vote for lifting his immunity and also voted for it himself.

"The investigation process has been going on since June 2019, this decision will help to close the process and I will be able to prove that this accusation is not true," he said.

As reported, the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) has turned to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to begin prosecution against former Riga mayor and current European Parliament Member Usakovs for possession of a banned video surveillance device.

The bureau reported that while conducting procedural activities several years ago in a separate criminal case, the KNAB found and removed a device to be used for special operational activities from Usakovs' office.

Usakovs himself previously posted on his Facebook account that the removed device was a "some sort of self-made recording device" that was on the shelf. "As I understood from the description, it is a glued album with a built-in camera and microphone," Usakovs explained. He claimed that the presence of the device in his office was a surprise to him.

The KNAB initiated the Usakovs video surveillance device case on October 7, 2019, separating it from the Rigas Satiksme vehicle procurement case.