Anti-corruption efforts tripped up, again

Latvia was forced July 30 to advertise yet again for a director for a new anti-corruption agency seen as key to its bids for European Union and NATO membership after ethics questions were raised about the top candidate for the post.

The government also decided to raise the monthly salary for the post to 1,200 lats (2,000 euros) which "shows the willingness of the government to make a success of forming this office," said Justice Minister Ingrida Labucka.

The selection process could now be completed by late August, she added.

Last week, the Justice Ministry revoked its endorsement of Didzis Smitins, currently the deputy director of the security police, following accusations of a conflict of interest.

"There were some problems with Smitins because the director of the bureau must be of very good character and reputation with no black spots," said ministry spokesman Leonards Pavils.

Smitins denied allegations of any conflict of interest relating to a firm that warehouses and then destroys contraband seized by police and customs officers.

The controversy surrounded an expensive Mercedes used by Smitins' wife, which she was alleged to be using on loan from the firm, but Smitins said it was being rented.

Two earlier searches for a director of the new anti-corruption office also failed.

Several top police officers have been hit by accusations of corruption over the past year, including the head of the economic police, whose wife made expensive real estate purchases.

Latvia, which has the second-worst corruption perception rating among EU candidate countries from the international watchdog Transparency International, has repeatedly been urged by the West to crack down on corruption.

Latvia originally planned to get the bureau up and running by May 1, well before decisions on EU and NATO enlargement are due to be taken this autumn.

Both U.S. and EU officials made statements recently urging the Latvian government to take its time to find a good director for the bureau rather than making a rushed decision.

"I know that NATO members are watching closely the process of organizing the office and selecting its leader," Brian E. Carlson, the U.S. ambassador to Latvia, told the Baltic News Service.

"What matters is that the office head should be a good manager, impartial, ethically clean in the eyes of the public and also have experience in law enforcement."

An anti-corruption expert working for the Soros Foundation in Riga called the selection system poorly managed.

"It's very bad to recruit someone from the system" given its poor credibility, Lolita Cigane said.

Latvia has rejected adopting Hong Kong's approach of hiring foreigners in order to help ensure that the anti-corruption agency does not fall under the influence of powerful local groups.

Research published by the United Nations Development Program last year revealed that 79 percent of the public trusted both the Parliament and the government "very little or not at all."

Latvian officials said they were committed to establishing an effective office. "Maybe our mentality sometimes is too slow, but we have enough strong people here in Latvia," Labucka said.