Usakovs files cassation appeal against court decision in connection with his dismissal as Riga mayor

  • 2021-07-15
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - European Parliament member Nils Usakovs (Harmony) has filed a cassation appeal against a court decision in connection with his dismissal as Riga mayor.

Usakovs told TV3 this morning that he filed the cassation appeal on Wednesday. If it is accepted, it will be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

The former mayor of Riga said that after being tried in two court instances, his list of seemingly illegal activities, which was initially quite long, left only three violations, the loudest of which was the transfer of EUR 18 million to the municipal public transportation company Rigas Satiksme.

Usakovs reminded that an investigation of these transfers has already been carried out by the Corruption Prevention Bureau, which found that the payment may have been incorrectly documented in accounting records, but it did not cause any damage to the municipality.

Thus, Usakovs considers that the three remaining violations that he is being accused of are insignificant and could not be attributed to him as the then chairman of the Riga City Council.

"On my part, the cassation has been filed, if necessary, I will go further to the Constitutional Court or at the European level, because now it is a question of how the relations between the government, the responsible minister and the local government are regulated," the politician pointed out.

As reported, the Administrative Regional Court in June turned down European Parliament member Nils Usakovs' (Harmony) complaint contesting his dismissal as Riga mayor in the spring of 2019, LETA learned from the court.

The Regional Court concluded that the court of first instance had correctly established the circumstances of the case and correctly interpreted the applicable legal norms.

Usakovs had turned to the Administrative Regional Court asking the court to reopen the case, pointing out in his petition that he had received new information that was relevant to the case.

According to Usakovs, the Corruption Prevention Bureau started proceedings against him to analyze his responsibility as the mayor of Riga and Rigas Satiksme public transport company's shareholder for transferring the Riga City Council's funds in the amount of EUR 18.4 million to Rigas Satiksme to be invested in the company's share capital.

During the investigation, the Corruption Prevention Bureau, including with the help of independent accounting experts, concluded that even though the purpose of the transfer was not correct, the transaction had no impact on the Riga City Council's budget, and that is why the criminal case was closed.

LETA also reported, the Administrative District Court in April 2020 rejected Usakovs' protest against then Environmental Protection and Regional Development Minister Juris Puce's (For Development/For) decision to dismiss Usakovs as the mayor of Riga.

Usakovs filed an appeal and, as a result, the case ended up at the Regional Administrative Court.