Briškens instructed the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport to propose a service examination regarding a potential conflict of interest, with the ex-politician Jānis Iesalnieks becoming the head of construction contracts of the “European Railway Lines” (EDZL) Project implementation and Management Department.
"It will be examined whether there has been a breach of obligations concerning the prevention of conflicts of interest or an infringement of internal legislation in the hiring of Mr Iesalnieks. I have also instructed the holder of EDZL State capital shares to assess possible referral to competent institutions," the minister noted.
As reported by Latvian Television and LSM, at the end of last year, one of the most high-profile politicians of the nationalist National Alliance (NA), Jānis Iesalnieks said that he would no longer run for political office. Soon afterwards, Iesalnieks' new position was revealed – head of construction contracts at the state company "Eiropas Dzelzceļa lijnas" (European Railway Lines/EDzL), which is the implementer of the huge Rail Baltica project in Latvia.
The company admitted to De Facto that Iesalnieks had very little practical experience with construction contracts, but that the other candidates who applied for the job did not have much experience either, as the salary of 3,500 euros per month was not considered competitive in the industry.
