Prosecutor's office would not reveal whether someone else is being probed in Karins' special flights case

RIGA - After reports that criminal charges have been brought against former State Chancellery director Janis Citskovskis in connection with former prime minister Krisjanis Karins' special flights case, the prosecutor's office would not reveal whether someone else is being probed in the case.

The Prosecutor General's Office informed the media this week that charges are being pressed against one person in Karins' flight case. Latvian Television reported that the charges have been brought against Citskovskis.

At the beginning of the year, however, the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) told LETA that two persons were being probed in the case and that they had worked at the State Chancellery when the alleged offenses were committed.

On Friday, representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office declined to reveal whether someone else besides Citskovskis features as a suspect or is facing criminal charges in the case.

On Tuesday, LETA was told at the Prosecutor General's Office that the charges include failure to perform office duties that has brought about serious consequences. The prosecutor's office confirmed that the person in question had been presented with the indictment on Tuesday. The prosecutor's office did not comment on whether charges could be pressed against someone else in the case.

The criminal proceedings are being conducted by the prosecutor's office for the investigation of offences in the public service.

The investigation is ongoing and the prosecutor's office is therefore not commenting further.

As reported, in early April 2024, in response to information provided by the Prosecutor General's Office about the opening of criminal proceedings to assess the use of special flights by former Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity), Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) ordered the establishment of an ad-hoc commission, whose task was to establish the circumstances of the breaches of laws and other regulatory enactments and to assess responsibility of officials.

In parallel, at the beginning of May, Silina initiated disciplinary proceedings against Citskovskis.

The interim report concluded that Citskovskis, probably in breach of the law, had committed a disciplinary offence, namely, unjustifiable failure to perform his duties or negligent and inadequate performance of his duties, including improper handling of financial resources, resulting in substantial financial loss to the state or substantial damage to the interests of the state.

Silina had earlier decided to suspend Citskovskis from his duties for the duration of the disciplinary investigation in order to ensure a comprehensive and impartial investigation of the disciplinary case and to prevent Citskovskis from obstructing the investigation.

The State Audit Office found that unlawful and uneconomical actions in organizing special flights of former Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) caused unjustified expenses of about EUR 545,000 for the budgets of Latvia and the Council of the European Union.

The State Audit Office considers that the use of special flights, even in cases where no state of emergency had been declared and where alternatives of regular commercial flights were available within a reasonable time, constituted an unlawful use of state budget funds, which resulted in additional expenditure of at least EUR 221,566 for the state budget. The State Audit Office estimates that the uneconomic behavior has resulted in additional expenditure of at least EUR 323,688 for the Council of the EU.

According to the State Audit Office, the information obtained during the audit shows that then Prime Minister Karins and the Prime Minister's Office and the State Chancellery under his direct authority were actually involved in the adoption and implementation of decisions on the use of special flights for foreign trips. The Prime Minister's Office was then headed by the current MP Janis Patmalnieks (New Unity), while the State Chancellery was headed by Janis Citskovskis.

The State Chancellery, on the other hand, believes that responsibility for Karins' flights should be taken by the prime minister's office.

Citskovskis resigned as head of the State Chancellery in July 2024.