Corruption cops coming, business people fret

  • 2002-04-25
  • Jorgen Johansson
RIGA

In the past, combating corruption in Latvia has been a duty scattered over more than a half-dozen different law enforcement departments.

But legislation adopted by Parliament April 18 that created the Office for the Prevention and Fight Against Corruption will change that.

But business people, many of whom have complained of corruption in the country, say legislation gives the police too much access to financial information.

Formation of the OPFC has been a slow process, involving Latvian lawmakers and U.S. experts from the FBI, the Justice Department and the Attorney General's Office.

"When looking at the United States, we see that there has to be organization. We have an agreement with the U.S. government, and we met with experts last September and they will assist us," said Dzintars Kudums, chairman of the Parliament's Defense and Interior Affairs Committee.

The office will work directly under the Cabinet of Ministers to ensure its independence, which was a concern raised by some foreign investors.

"What we are interested in, and what our dialog with the government was, concerned the independence of this police unit," said Monty Akesson, president of the Foreign Investors Council.

Akesson said the organization had not yet examined the operational aspects of the office. There are several laws which have to be passed before the OPFC will be able to function to the full extent of its authority.

A plan, according to Kudums, is to have all Latvian citizens declare their total income - salaries and belongings of value - at least once.

"These declarations would be in sealed envelopes and only available to (the OPFC) if there is cause for suspecting criminal activities or if there is an investigation going on," Kudums said.

Complete access to company information would also be available to the office, according to the legislation.

But some business people are not too impressed with the government's new plans.

Inarijs Voits, president of Latvia's Fishery Association, said it was important to clearly define how officers in the new unit would work, since much of the information they might want access to is confidential business agreements between companies and private persons.

"There are many corrupt officials in Latvia. And if they would gain access to this restricted information between business people, it could be devastating," Voits said. "This is my main concern."