Once, the president of a country’s central bank went on a hunting trip to Kamchatka and later told the court that the photograph in which he is seen sitting in then highly respectable company was fabricated. He could have avoided these troubles with photographs, prison, and attorney expenses if only… he had presented this trip as a working visit. This, by analogy, can be inferred from a response of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (KNAB), in the possession of Inc., to a person who was once a high-ranking state official but is no longer one.
Specifically, the former official turned to the Prosecutor General’s Office, drawing the institution’s attention to the fact that a number of state officials might have received free invitations to the 2025 European Men’s Basketball Championship games in Riga, the price of which on the market had been up to 3000 euros apiece, and that a similar situation might also have occurred with other sports and cultural events, such as the WRC Rally.
The author of the submission was well prepared both legally and in terms of logic, experience, and other knowledge, and therefore drew the Prosecutor’s attention to the information published on the KNAB website about how to distinguish a gift from a bribe, and to the fact that officials are prohibited from receiving benefits for two years after leaving office, and that it is particularly risky to do so if the official has made any decisions regarding the donor. In this case, the emphasis is on the fact that the Cabinet of Ministers had decided that the maximum state budget co-financing for the “Euro Basket 2025” event may not exceed an impressive 10 million euros. Meanwhile, the Riga City Council decided to grant funding in the amount of 1.6 million euros. In addition, the budget estimate of the association “Latvian Basketball Association” included 22 thousand euros for the payment of the VIP hall, in which a large number of decision-makers later appeared.
The Prosecutor General’s Office evaluated this submission and forwarded it to KNAB for assessment. The submitter of the application had no proof that the invitations were free of charge, only that the “Latvian Basketball Association” had decided at a board meeting in March that the LBA Secretary General is entitled, for representation purposes, to issue complimentary tickets/invitations as needed, as evidenced by the minutes of the meeting.
One might have expected that KNAB would once again find nothing, or that it would turn out there had been no free invitations at all, or that some other circumstances could not be proven. But no! In an incredible turn, KNAB managed to surprise even a civil servant with many years of experience.
KNAB replied that the expensive invitations to games, including final tournaments, issued by the LBA and SIA “RA Events”, which organized the WRC Rally stage, are not to be considered gifts or bribes because… while performing their official duties, state officials accepted the invitations and accreditations within the framework of working visits, and this is permitted. In other words, if you want to go with your financial backers to Kamchatka or with Arab sheikhs to F1 races – just file it as an official trip. That is now safe.
Originally published at https://inc-baltics.com/ka-pareizi-noformet-davanas-lai-iegutu-knab-svetibu-isa-pamaciba-pateicibu-cienitajiem/
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