Six face censure over Expo fiasco

Take note – story published 9 years ago

Six employees of the Economics Ministry face disciplinary action over their role in Latvia's on-again, off-again participation on the Milan World Expo this year. 

After months of indecision, the Latvian cabinet in January decided not to go ahead with the project, but the state will still be saddled with costs likely to run into the millions for the failure to put a stand together for the international showcase event. 

A disciplinary investigation at the Economy Ministry has revealed major violations in the organization of Latvia's participation in the Expo Milano 2015 project, the LETA newswire reported Tuesday.

As a result, disciplinary cases have been opened against six Economy Ministry officials, of which three have been suspended from their jobs.

The investigative commission has found that the project lacked an appropriate and efficient managing board, which could assess Latvia's potential organization models and their risks. The commission also revealed significant shortcomings in the use of funds allocated for the project.

Other violations include failure to comply with deadlines, inadequate procurement tenders, poor quality contracts and insufficient supervision of implementation of the contracts, the Economy Ministry said in a press release.

However, saddling those workers with the blame fails to answer another important question: if such widespread faults happening, why did they go undetected for so long and why did the government not take a decision to quit - or overhaul the entire process - a lot sooner?

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