Fighting Corruption
!/images/273t.jpg!
For once we get some good news from Latvia.
While I understand that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, I find it hard to believe that a man who’s been hiding the source of his immense wealth has a clear conscience.
You don’t have to be a whiz kid to know whom the President Vaira Vike-Freiberga described as “so-called oligarchs” when she delayed the publication of the amendments to the national security laws last week.
No one else could fit the mold better than the mayor of a sea port city of Ventspils and a close comrade of Latvian politicians, Aivars Lembergs.
He realized that, which is why he shifted to the offensive Monday, poo-pooing the President’s actions, and defending government’s adoption of the changes to the national security laws.
Police detained Lembergs, a controversial figure in Latvia, this morning and charged him with two counts of bribery, three counts of money laundering, and information falsification on an income declarations.
Today, perhaps, he will cry his arrest is a form of political prosecution. But who will listen?
The mayor of a major transit port for Russian oil, he has close ties with government politicians and is alleged to be the secret owner of a large part of the oil-transit business.
A judge at an arraignment hearing at the Center District Court in Riga tonight is deciding whether Lembergs should go to jail on the preliminary charges.
In the parliamentary elections last year, Lembergs was a candidate to the post of prime minister from the Union of Greens and Farmers.
The President and Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis were informed of the events.
“There are heavy consequences for him not only personally, but also in connection with his professional work,” said the President.
From Wikipedia:
“Lembergs is among the wealthiest people in Latvia. The true extent of his wealth is unknown to public, because the ownership information of Venstpils companies is not publicly known. The estimates of his wealth by Latvian media range from 85 million to 230 millions euros. But, even his publicly known wealth is quite large. According to his income declaration, Lembergs’ 2005 income was 8.6 million lats (€12.3million).
“The details of how Lembergs accumulated his wealth are largely unknown. His past business partner, Ainars Gulbis, has accused Lembergs of obtaining a large share in their Kalija Parks company by threats to Gulbis and Kalija Parks. Lembergs is a subject of an on-going criminal investigation by Latvian authorities and was charged with bribery, money laundering and abuse of elected office on July 20, 2006.”
Taken in 2006, the photo reads “Lembergs Is Not a Thief,” a part of the mock advertising campaign in Riga last year.
Recent Comments