As previously reported by LSM, at Tuesday's post-cabinet press conference which had discussed Inga Kolegova, a nominee to head Latvia's tax collection service (VID) Kucinskis dropped a bombshell, saying the nominee's brother had been "arrested" at the border and dropping none-too-subtle hints there was a political motive behind the act.
Later this was modified to suggest the brother's car had been arrested.
Later it was modified again to suggest a truck belonging to a company owned by the brother had been detained.
All that information was vehemently denied in a later press release by the tax service itself.
VID neapstiprina publiski izskanējušo informāciju, proti, VID struktūrvienības nav aizturējušas nedz VID vadītāja... https://t.co/78g4m0EpDZ
— VID (@vid_gov_lv) August 9, 2016
On Wednesday, Kucinskis' spokesman Andrejs Vaivars attempted to clarify the bizarre goof by telling Latvian Radio's Madara Fridrihsone in fact a consignment of goods bound for the brother's company had merely been inspected at Riga Airport.
In all the post-cabinet excitement, the PM had simply got the wrong end of the stick, Vaivars said.
Kolegova's candidacy is due to be discussed again at next Tuesday's cabinet meeting by which point hopefully all parties will have got their facts straight.
Of the three parties in the current coalition, Kucinskis' Greens and Farmers Union political party and the nationalist National Alliance party support Kolegova's candidacy while the Unity party is opposed, claiming Kolegova's track record of business dealings with her brother are questionable.
