2024-05-14 10:56:30
The decision was made on the basis of the conditions and violations of legal norms found in the interim report of the service inspection commission of May 7, 2024. The interim report concluded that Tsitskovskis committed a disciplinary offense, possibly by poorly fulfilling the norms of the law, that is, unjustified failure to fulfill his duties or negligent and poor-quality fulfillment of his duties, including inappropriate handling of financial resources, as a result of which the state suffered a significant property loss or caused significant damage to the state’s interests .
Along with Silina’s order, a disciplinary investigation commission has been established, which will be headed by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mihail Papsujevičs. The director of the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance Arina Andreičikas, the head of the Administration of the Ministry of Economy Dace Gaile, the deputy state secretary of the Ministry of Welfare Aija Grīnberga, the parliamentary secretary of the Prime Minister Dace Kļaviņa and the director of the Legal Department of the Ministry of Justice Aleksejs Remesovs will work in the commission.
In order to ensure a comprehensive and objective investigation of the disciplinary case, as well as to prevent Citskovski from obstructing the investigation of the disciplinary case, Silina has decided to suspend Citskovski from the performance of his duties for the duration of the investigation of the disciplinary case, but no longer than until the start of the execution of the disciplinary punishment, while maintaining the monthly salary and social guarantees.
During the suspension, the duties of the Director of the State Chancellery have been assigned to Inese Gailīte, the Deputy Director of the State Chancellery for Legal Affairs.
LETA already reported that Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) initiated a service check against State Chancellery Director Jānis Citskovski in connection with the organization of special flights of former Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņas (JV).
Citskovski was also suspended from his post for a probationary period.
As reported, the illegal and uneconomical behavior in organizing Kariņš’s special flights caused a total of around 545,000 euros in unjustified expenses for the budgets of Latvia and the Council of the European Union, the State Audit Office (VK) found in the audit.
VK believes that by using special flights even in cases where the country had not declared a state of emergency and when alternatives to regular commercial flights were available in a reasonable time, illegal actions with state budget funds were allowed, which resulted in additional state budget expenses of at least 221,566 euros. On the other hand, the allowed uneconomic behavior, according to the SC’s estimates, has caused additional expenses of at least 323,688 euros for the Council of the EU.
“Thus, the law on the prevention of wastage of financial resources and property of a public person has not been observed,” assesses VK and notes that the financial audit also found violations of regulatory acts related to the organization of public procurement and accounting.
According to VK, the information obtained during the audit shows that the then Prime Minister Kariņš, as well as the Prime Minister’s Office and the State Chancellery under his direct authority, were actually involved in the decision-making and implementation of the use of special flights on foreign missions. At that time, the Prime Minister’s office was headed by the current member of the Saeima, Jānis Patmalnieks (JV), while the State Chancellery was headed by Citskovskis.
The State Chancellery, on the other hand, believes that the prime minister’s office should take responsibility for the flights of former prime minister Kariņš.
The State Chancellery emphasizes that the planning of the Prime Minister’s agenda, including business trips, is within the competence of the Prime Minister’s Office. Therefore, the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister, makes a decision on when and with which transport to go on a business trip and return from it. The office of the Prime Minister contacted businessmen directly to order special flights. The special flights offered by businessmen for business trips were selected and approved by the Office of the Prime Minister and only then informed the Director of the State Chancellery, Jānis Citskovski, about the chosen solution. Thus, information about the chosen mode of transport and its costs reached the Director of the State Chancellery only when the Prime Minister’s Office had already assumed the financial obligations, the State Chancellery emphasizes.
2024-05-14 10:56:30