Interior Ministry state secretary resigns after losing security clearance

RIGA - Interior Ministry state secretary Ilze Petersone-Godmane, who has lost the security clearance necessary to access state secrets, will stand down this Thursday, June 8.

Petersone-Godmane told LETA that her resignation had been “mutually agreed”.

She also admitted that the Constitution Protection Bureau had refused to extend her security clearance. Petersone-Godmane had lodged an appeal against the Constitution Protection Bureau’s decision with the Prosecutor General’s Office, but Prosecutor General Eriks Kalnmeiers upheld the decision.

Petersone-Godmane said she could not comment on the decision. “Of course, I respect the Constitution Protection Bureau’s decision, but I find it regretful that my 20 years of work in the law enforcement system has received such an assessment. Moreover, I have never been disciplinary penalized during all this time,” Petersone-Godmane stressed.

Unofficial information obtained by LETA suggests that Petersone-Godmane’s current deputy Dmitrijs Trofimovs might succeed her as the ministry’s next state secretary.

Petersone-Godmane said it was too early now for her to comment on future plans but she did not rule out taking up a new public administration job.

Petersone-Godmane has been serving as the Interior Ministry's state secretary since 2009.

Earlier, Latvian Television assumed that Petersone-Godmane might be having trouble getting her security clearance renewed because of her too close friendship with Juris Savickis, the head of Itera Latvija energy company. For example, she had been a guest at Savickis' birthday party which he held in Croatia. Savickis himself expressed doubts whether being on speaking terms with him might really be the reason for not renewing security clearance.