As previously reported, the end of last year, the Baltic investigative journalism center Re:Baltica revealed that the mayor of Daugavpils, Elksniņš, has a liking for designer clothes, high-end watches and other trappings of luxury that seemed hard to reconcile with his modest salary and apparent lack of savings as mayor of the country's second-largest city.
In mid-March, Latvian Radio reported on the VID's in-depth review of the Elksniņš State official's 2021 and 2022 declarations. VID found no breaches.
Now the head of the VID said that state officials' declaration checks do not assess the conformity of lifestyle with a person's income. This is done in other types of checks where a person is looked at as a citizen, not an official.
The SRS will not be able to report the results of the inspection publicly, because Elksniņš is not assessed as an official, but as a natural person, for whom the data are prohibited from being disclosed. Elksniņš can apply to the VID for consent that the VID would share data analysis in this case.
If necessary, the Service may cooperate with law enforcement authorities – the Tax and Customs Police or the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB).
The VID head also said that last year, a total of nearly 600 people were assessed in relation to lifestyle compliance with legal income. After the checks, these individuals declared income of more than one million euros in total.
