2024-04-15 17:10:14
LETA already wrote that on Thursday, April 11, MEPs did not support the cancellation of parliamentary immunity for Ushakov and America.
Ushakov emphasized to the LETA agency that he is not afraid to defend his justice in court. The politician noted that he had recently won the legal proceedings in which he was accused of having a hidden video surveillance device in one of the premises of the Riga City Council. Now the MEP is waiting for compensation.
“The majority of the EP Legal Commission and members of Parliament voted to preserve immunity. Such a decision is very important to me personally. The decision clearly and clearly expresses suspicions that it is political persecution. There are also suspicions about the quality of the investigation, the true motives and so on. It was important to me to hear it from my colleagues in the parliament,” said the MEP.
As the LETA agency found out, in case of re-election of Ushakov and Amerika, the prosecutor’s office could again appeal to the EP with a proposal to revoke the MP’s immunity. America is not running in the upcoming EP elections.
Commenting on the EP’s decision, Monvīds Zelčs, prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Coordination Department of the Latvian General Prosecutor’s Office, told LETA that immunity protects both officials and apparently no charges can be brought as long as they are members of the EP.
The decision of the EP could be considered as an attempt to “torpedo” the further investigation of the criminal case, however, at the same time, Zelčs thinks that “it will definitely not be the case that this case will end with the decision of the EP”.
For now, there is no chance to indict the two politicians, but the first reference point will be June, when new EP elections are expected. If one of them is re-elected, then there is a need to appeal to the EP again to remove the immunity. “If such an option comes true, then we will obviously, most likely, have to act accordingly. If an official is charged and for a while he is not a member of parliament, but he is re-elected, then we should turn to the EP anyway,” said the prosecutor.
Commenting on the EP’s statement that the relevant legal process was started with the aim of harming the political activities of the relevant MP, Zelčs pointed out that the EP can write anything in its argumentation.
It is difficult for the prosecutor to judge how many MEPs went into the prosecution’s proposal about the two politicians, but he believes that there were quite a few. At the same time, MEPs are not a court that should evaluate the evidence. “They look at what is written in the draft indictment or in the sent request, and then they are guided by it,” emphasized Zelčs.
The prosecutor reminded that Ushakov will not be charged for any actions he would have performed as an MEP and for any of his political activities. “The activities he has carried out as the chairman of the Riga City Council are only one of the aspects. The basis is not our appeal to him as a politician, also working in the Riga City Council, but the fact that he has agreed with a private person that the activities will be carried out for bribes,” said the prosecutor.
Zelch also confirmed that it is Ushakov, unlike America, that the potential charge is more serious, because Ushakov is the “central person” in this criminal process.
Although the EP’s decision creates problems for the prosecutor’s office, it is not going to end the criminal proceedings, Zelčs repeated.
At the same time, the prosecutor has no doubt that Ushakov will continue to call it a political attack against him, but practice shows that officials in political positions claim in almost every criminal case that the attack against them is due to political activity.
It has already been reported that the prosecutor requested to revoke Ushakov’s immunity in order to start criminal proceedings against him for a criminal offense – a bribe – obtaining before performing an illegal act in the interests of a third party, being a public official, by abusing his official position, and for a violation – misappropriation of someone else’s property, by abusing trust and by deception, on a large scale and in an organized group.
The prosecutor requested to cancel the immunity of America in order to start a criminal trial for a criminal offense – obtaining a bribe before performing an illegal activity in the interests of a third party, using the official position.
In the proposal prepared by the EP Legal Commission, it is noted that from July 22, 2017 to September 17, 2017, Ušakovs, as the mayor of the city of Riga, that is, in a publicly responsible position, as well as representing the municipality of Riga as a shareholder of the Riga transportation company, among other things “Rīgas mikroautobusu satiksme” allegedly demanded a bribe of 50% of the sums that this company received from the Riga municipality for the passengers it transported, who were entitled to fare discounts, from the intermediary owner.
According to the statement of the EP Legal Committee, Ameriks, as the vice-mayor of the city of Riga – he is in a publicly responsible position – among other things, demanded a bribe from the intermediary owner of the company “Rīgas mikroautobusu satiksme” in the amount of 50% of the sums that this company received from the Riga municipality for the passengers it transported, which were entitled to fare discounts.
In May 2023, the Office for the Prevention and Combating of Corruption (KNAB) had urged the General Prosecutor’s Office to charge the former mayor of Riga Ušakov, his then-deputy Amerika and several other persons in the case of causing losses of approximately ten million euros to the Riga municipality and its capital company.
On May 10, 2023, KNAB handed over the criminal proceedings to the General Prosecutor’s Office, in which they obtained sufficient evidence that four former officials of the Riga City Council and its capital company, as well as one natural person, guided by greedy goals, generated income for the minibus passenger transport company, part of which was repayable as a regular bribe in cash to two former senior officials of the Riga City Council, LETA agency was informed by KNAB.
As a result of the criminal offenses, the municipality and its capital company suffered a property loss of more than 10 million euros.
The evidence obtained in the KNAB investigation shows that the former chairman of the Riga City Council and his deputy, using their official position as leading officials of the municipality, demanded a large bribe from a natural person – the intermediate owner of a minibus passenger transportation company.
The investigation revealed that the former chairman of the Riga City Council, his deputy and the intermediary owner of the general company agreed on the necessary actions to implement bribery.
The agreement provided for making changes in the regulatory acts, so that the general company could receive payments from the Riga City Council through its capital companies for the transportation of passengers with reduced fares, and 30% of these revenues to be paid monthly in cash as a bribe to the chairman of the Riga City Council and his deputy. The general partnership and its members earned such additional income from May 2018 to April 2020.
In order to achieve amendments to the regulatory acts, two other officials of the municipality’s capital company prepared and provided the decision-makers with false information about the validity of granting fare concessions and the impact on the economic interests of the municipality and its capital company.
The persons involved in the criminal offense were aware of the illegality of the introduction of fare concessions and the creation of losses for the Riga City Council and its capital company. As a result of the criminal offences, severe consequences have been caused – the municipality and its capital company have suffered a property loss of more than 10 million euros.
KNAB has initiated the initiation of criminal prosecution against four former public officials and one natural person, as well as to continue the coercive measures application processes initiated during the pre-trial investigation against four legal entities in whose interests the criminal offenses were carried out.
On February 13, 2023, KNAB separated this criminal process from the criminal process started in 2019.
2024-04-15 17:10:14