"Andris Skele's (former prime minister) and Prime Minister Guntars Krasts' governments have not insured proper supervision over the privatization process. On the contrary, the LPA board was given the right to make subjective decisions that increased possibilities for corruption," Cepanis said.
Strujevics said the LPA board allowed 183 privatized companies to pay the sum of 7.23 million lats ($12.05 million) with privatization vouchers based on subjective reasons.
Earlier in an interview with The Baltic Times , LPA Director General Janis Naglis said, "There are a lot of inaccuracies in what the minister says. We are not acting subjectively."
As a state proxy at the LPA council, Strujevics headed a work group that prepared new regulations to decide when the LPA board could allow substitute vouchers for lats in payment for a privatized company.
The LPA council adopted those regulations on July 17 to see a wave of criticism arise, accusing Strujevics of decreasing state privatization revenues by at least 8 million lats.
According to the new rules, the LPA board could change the means of payment when more than half, but no less than 80 percent, of the total price in lats is paid. This system was only valid if all contract conditions were fulfilled.
Bombarded by the media, Strujevics suspended the regulations until July 31 when the prosecutor's office ruled that the new regulations contradict the current privatization law.
The current law already includes Paragraph 52 that stipulates the LPA board can change payment conditions for privatized enterprises on three conditions: if more than half of the price is paid, regardless of the means of payment, if all foreseen investments are completed, or a company's work force was increased by 150 percent.
"These regulations gave the LPA board rights to satisfy or refuse a privatized company's demand to substitute payment in lats with payment in vouchers, based on the board's opinions," Cepanis said.
Naglis said the LPA board allowed all the companies to change the means of payment if they have fulfilled one of the conditions in Paragraph 52.
Strujevics said these regulations are not strict enough and proposed to exclude them from the privatization law if they can't be tightened.
The Cabinet of Ministers adopted this proposal on Aug. 18 and submitted it to Parliament which will probably discuss the issues in September, Strujevics said.
Asked whether excluding Paragraph 52 from the privatization law would make the privatization process harder, Naglis said nothing dramatic will happen.
Naglis did say that this legal regulation supports small and medium sized businesses which find it harder to borrow money than large enterprises.
Following the submission to Parliament to exclude Paragraph 52, Strujevics and Cepanis said the whole stir about Paragraph 52 and new regulations was worthless.
Cepanis said that the current law includes another paragraph that allows the LPA board to amend approved privatization conditions after the purchase contract is signed.
If Strujevics survives a vote of no confidence scheduled for the next parliamentary plenary session, he might continue his struggle with the LPA board.
Please enter your username and password.
2024 © The Baltic Times /Cookies Policy
