2024-04-25 16:18:56
On the other hand, the State Security Service (VDD) informed the LETA agency that the service “has paid attention” to the publicly released information, however, the service did not provide any further comments.
Head of the information technology company “SOAAR” Renārs Kadžulis in the Latvian Television program “What’s happening in Latvia?” claimed that almost ten years ago, the then general secretary of “Vienotības” Artis Kampars called on the election software provider “SOAAR” to falsify the results of the 12th Saeima elections in order to ensure the entrance of the party’s then chairperson, Solvita Āboltiņa, into the parliament. There is no confirmation of such a conversation for Kajulis, but he once reported it to the law enforcement authorities.
The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) and the Constitutional Protection Bureau (SAB) informed the LETA agency that they have not received any submissions from Kadžulis.
The VDD also emphasizes that neither in 2014 nor later did the service receive a single submission from businessman Renārs Kažuļis or any other person in connection with the statement.
As reported, Kadžulis, who is accused in the case of fraud in the procurement of the Central Election Commission (CVK), claimed to LTV that on the night of the 12th Saeima elections held in the fall of 2014, Kampars invited him to talk and expressed concern that Āboltiņa might lack the votes to enter the Saeima. “We need you to do it so that she gets elected,” Kadzulis allegedly told Kampara ten years ago. “I’m saying, do you understand what you’re asking, you’re asking to falsify the election results. I will never go down that path in my life. And I refused. [Kampars] He said – then everything will be fine,” Kažulis claimed in the program.
He said that these statements can only be proved by the fact that Āboltiņa was not elected in the end, but he got into the 12th Saeima after Jānis Junkurs, who was elected from the “Vienotības” list, resigned from the Saeima. He announced that he had received a job offer from a company in Hong Kong. However, his public official’s declaration did not show his work in a Hong Kong company, which led to the conclusion that he left the Saeima to make room for Āboltiņa.
Kadžulis said that he had reported the incident to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, but there was no response.
Kampars called Kadžulis’s accusations of efforts to influence the outcome of the Saeima elections as absurd and false, as no such content negotiations took place between the two.
After these announcements, the State President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Prosecutor General and asked to take the necessary measures and check whether the state security institutions and law enforcement authorities have received any news or information about the attempts to influence the results of the Saeima elections in 2014. Rinkēvičs instructed the Prosecutor General to conduct an investigation and to inform him and Latvian society about its results.
After these announcements, Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) emphasized that she is asking the law enforcement authorities to check the statement made publicly. Siliņa emphasized that what Kažuļis said about the attempt to influence the democratic procedures established in the Constitution should not remain without consequences. “Either it happened, and one must answer to the law, or it didn’t, and the other must answer to the law. The opinion of the institutions protecting Latvia’s constitutional order and security must be expressed very clearly – there must be both an assessment and action,” the Prime Minister believes. .
At the prosecutor’s office, there is currently a criminal case for fraud in the IT procurement organized by CVK. Kadžulis is one of the defendants in this case. The company led by him won several times in the procurement of CVK and the Directorate of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.
In April 2024, Kažulis claimed to TV3’s program “Neka peresika” that “Vienotība” had been using the system created by “SOAAR” for elections in congresses for eight years for free, without making the requested payment for the services. KNAB has started a departmental inspection in connection with this. A week later, Kadžulis’ announcements that Kampars tried to influence the counting of votes in the 2014 Saeima elections followed.
2024-04-25 16:18:56