To the LETA journalist’s request to confirm whether Citskovski has been given the status of a suspect or a person against whom a criminal proceeding has been initiated, Stukāns replied in the program that “as a minimum” the status of a person against whom a criminal proceeding has been initiated has been applied, but whether the former VK director has already been recognized about the suspect, the general prosecutor could not say.
“The status – against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated, that is what he has. I can claim this because he was involved in the process and was also interrogated, therefore the law states that in this way a person acquires the right to defense,” stated Stukāns.
The institution investigating criminal proceedings – the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) – confirmed to the LETA agency at the end of last year that there are two persons in the case who have the right to defense, and these persons were employed at the State Chancellery at the time of the alleged crime.
According to the law, the right to defense belongs to a person who is presumed or alleged to have committed a criminal offense. KNAB did not reveal which of the legal procedural statuses applied to the mentioned two – the status of a person against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated or the status of a suspect.
It has already been reported that at the end of March 2024, the General Prosecutor’s Office started and handed over to the KNAB investigation a criminal case regarding possible waste in connection with the use of charter flights for the former prime minister’s business trips.
The inspection of the General Prosecutor’s Office found that for the special contract trips, which were organized from 2021 to 2023, more sums were spent than was foreseen in the contracts concluded with travel agencies for the organization of contract trips.
Taking into account the above, the prosecutor has decided to start criminal proceedings according to the section of the Criminal Law on possible waste in a large amount.
Illegal and uneconomical behavior, 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.
As VK stated, 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 making and implementing decisions about 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 Jānis Citskovskis.
Initially, Tsitskovskis was also temporarily suspended from his post in connection with the Kariņas flight scandal. This was done by order of Prime Minister Evikas Silina (JV). 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.
Later, Tsitskovskis left his job at VK.