Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Headlines

corruption risks

Does the CVK have fictitious employees? Most likely, at least one.

The Central Election Commission (CVK) employs at least one fictitious female employee who was formally hired so that her husband could avoid paying child support at a faster-increasing rate – this conclusion can quite reasonably be drawn from the information received by the Inc. editorial office and from attempts to verify this information. Early on the morning of March 26, after the current affairs broadcast “Kas notiek Latvijā?” (“What’s Happening in Latvia?”), in one of the messaging apps I […]

In the State Chancellery’s procurement for the development of digital public service design, the lowest bid was submitted by the company of the imprisoned businessman Ceruss

In the State Chancellery’s procurement “Development of the design of state administration digital services. Stage 2.” the lowest bid was submitted yesterday by the company “Corporate Consulting” owned by the arrested businessman Ceruss, according to the bid opening record of 23 March. In total, nine companies have submitted bids in the tender, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Emergn, Civitta Latvia, CUBE Agency, Raccoonery, SDSI studio and TRY Riga. The bid prices range from 27,888 euros to 33,000 euros. […]

State Secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection involved in IT scandal temporarily suspended from office

Taking into account the public interest regarding publicly available information about a possible involvement in the unlawful transfer of restricted-access information related to IT procurements, the Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development, Raimonds Čudars, has suspended the Ministry of Environmental Protection state secretary Edvīns Balševics from performing his official duties, the ministry informs. “Within the framework of the investigation, it is important to ensure that all persons involved in the violations of law are brought to justice, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Regional Development Agency fully […]

The procurement documents of the E-case project perfectly demonstrate how the networking of detained individuals works in IT procurements

The Court Administration’s (TA) information system E-lieta, with related procurements that began back in 2017, perfectly demonstrates how the network of individuals operates, some of whom were detained this week. Documents show that officials and companies themselves both draw up the specifications, sit on the procurement commission, and choose the winners. The E-lieta example is only one example, but in essence the same people and […]

Procedural actions are being carried out involving the state secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Balševics, Liopa and the entrepreneur Ceruss

In connection with the development and operation of IT systems in the 2025 municipal elections, law enforcement authorities this evening are carrying out procedural actions at the Ministry of Environmental Protection state secretary Edvīns Balševics, according to information available to Inc. Procedural actions are also being carried out at the former head of the State Regional Development Agency (VRAA), Jorens Liopa, as well as the businessman, owner of Corporate Solutions group, Aigars Ceruss. Asked what the businessman has to do with […]

The Ministry of Education cannot find the list of schools to which the expensive computers were delivered

Officials of the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministry of Education) apparently cannot find information within their own system about which schools have received the 48 thousand purchased computers, for whose procurement process Minister Dace Melbārde initiated an internal investigation at the end of February.  Inc. has already written that the Ministry of Education has found an unprecedented way to exclude from the procurement a company that was able to provide the necessary computers […]

RB Rail officials’ insurance has become more expensive after the establishment of the Investigation Commission and, possibly, Baiba Rubesa’s visit to the Anti-Corruption Bureau

The officials, accountants, procurement committee members of AS RB Rail, the implementer of the Rail Baltica railway project, and their spouses have been insured since the very founding of the company in 2014, Inc. discovered after the previous publication. However, the cost of insurance has increased significantly, following certain events and, ultimately, also due to a reduction in competition among insurers. Considering that after Inc.’s previous publication part of the public has […]

It is planned to insure Rail Baltica officials against liability in project implementation: with a 12-year retroactive date and a compensation limit of up to 20 million

Having sensed the smell of burning, AS RB Rail, which is the implementer of the Rail Baltica railway project and is owned by the governments of the three Baltic states, on December 23 last year announced a procurement for directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. The procurement specification stipulates that the insurance must cover the liability of both current and former members of the management and supervisory boards, as well as other persons, including those who have left […]

Stiga RM employee simultaneously also an independent consultant in the Ministry of Agriculture’s forestry consulting program

At the end of last year, we wrote about how senior employees of LVM, who were directly involved in decision-making on the organization of procurements and the drafting of tender documents at the state-owned company “Latvijas valsts meži”, went to work for one of the industry’s entrepreneurs, including one about whom they had made decisions while at the state company. However, this is not the only situation that shows how some entrepreneurs have become intertwined with ministries […]

CC: In the Construction Cartel case, the Supreme Court unjustifiably restricts cooperation between law enforcement authorities

The judgment of the Supreme Court Senate’s Department of Administrative Cases in the construction cartel case has raised significant issues regarding cooperation between law‑enforcement institutions, the transfer of lawfully obtained evidence for the detection of cartel agreements, and the effective application of competition law, the Competition Council states. Respecting the Senate’s decision, the Competition Council (CC) emphasizes that in its judgment the Senate did not assess the existence of the prohibited cartel agreement on the merits and did not analyze that without […]