The Procurement Monitoring Bureau concluded that Kuzis, in signing contract with a company called Auto Blitz, had made a prepayment of 20 percent of the contract amount. The bureau believes that, in doing so, Kuzis violated the law and in any case no prepayment was mentioned in the contract.
Kuzis has appealed the bureau's decision to Riga Vidzeme District Court.
In his petition to the court, Kuzis claimed that he has not done anything against the law. He believes that the Procurement Monitoring Bureau has not evaluated the State Police's deal with Auto Blitz on its merits but made a formal conclusion.
The prepayment was made taking into consideration the extraordinary circumstances at the time Latvia held the European Union's presidency in 2015 and the geopolitical and security situation in Europe, with the police urgently in need of vehicles. Not a single cent was unaccounted for, Kuzis claimed.
After the Riga Vidzeme District Court's session today, Kuzis told reporters that the contract for delivery of forty Opel Insignia automobiles for the State Police was worth approximately €1.3 million or €32,000 per vehicle.
The police took delivery of the first automobiles in January 2015.
Kuzis denied having any personal interest in the deal. He said he had opted for making the prepayment seeing that the company was short of funds and would otherwise not be able to equip the automobiles with the necessary police equipment on schedule.
Without the cars, police might not have been able to ensure security at all events during Latvia's EU presidency and organize efficient protection of high-ranking officials coming to Latvia, Kuzis said.
The Procurement Monitoring Bureau previously concluded that Kuzis had violated Section 166.24 of the Administrative Violations Code - failure to observe openness or confidentiality in awarding state and local government procurement.
According to the bureau's decision, Kuzis has to pay a €400 fine and he may not participate in signing contracts on the State Police's behalf for a period of one year.
The Riga Vidzeme District Court is to give its verdict on the dispute on February 23.
According to official registry data, Janis Aboltins, husband of politician Solvita Aboltina of the Unity party, and chair of the Saeima National Security Committee, worked on the Auto Blitz council from 2014 to 2016, during the period the contract was negotiated.
