Thursday, April 16, 2026

Headlines

public safety

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 […]

Law enforcement will be allowed to eavesdrop on cartel organizers

The Saeima Legal Affairs Committee has supported at first reading amendments to the Operational Activities Law, which clarify the procedure for using and transferring information obtained in the course of operational activities in other proceedings. These will ensure a more effective fight against cartels, as well as expand opportunities to uncover other crimes. The amendments were prepared in response to a Supreme Court Senate judgment in the so‑called construction companies cartel case, in which it was concluded that […]

3.5 million contraband cigarettes discovered on the Belarus border

Officials of the State Revenue Service (VID) Customs Board, while carrying out customs controls on Latvia’s border with Belarus, in cooperation with colleagues from the Tax and Customs Police Board, prevented the smuggling of 3,502,000 cigarettes. The cigarettes were hidden in sealed metal buckets, under sawdust that had been poured into them instead of the declared goods – hand-washing products. In total, the cargo contained 175,100 packs of various brands of cigarettes. […]

Bank branch manager has been stealing from clients for 17 years

The officers of the 3rd Bureau, 2nd Unit of the Criminal Police Department of the Riga Regional Department of the State Police have sent to the prosecutor’s office a case for the initiation of criminal prosecution against a bank employee for economic crimes committed over a period of 17 years. While holding the position of branch manager at the bank, the suspect, without the knowledge of clients, carried out unlawful operations with financial instruments in their name, thereby obtaining money belonging to the bank’s clients. The credit institution has compensated […]

In the 14th Saeima elections, the SAB deemed the use of Latvia.lv unsafe

Already in the previous Saeima elections, the Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) deemed the portal Latvija.lv, created by the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA), to be insecure and requested that it not be used in the elections, according to information available to Inc. In its restricted-access (IP) document, SAB urgently asked the organizers of the election process to assess the technical possibilities of not using the unified authentication mechanism of the http://www.latvija.lv portal in the Electronic Online Voter Register and in the Election Management Systems. […]