Panorāma

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Panorāma

Panorāma

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President's office responds to auditor's criticism of costs

The State Audit Office, after evaluating the expenditures of the state's central administrative institutions last year, recently criticised excessive expenditure by the president's office during the Three Seas Initiative Summit meeting held in Rīga last year. 

The Presidential Chancellery rejects the accusations, stressing that they even managed to save money, according to LTV.

Andris Teikmanis, the head of the State President's office, rejected claims that funds were wasted when Latvia laid out the red carpet to visiting dignitaries. According to him the Chancellery initially planned to spend 372,000 euros for transport services during the two-day summit. At the time of signing the contract, the amount was reduced to 356,000 euros, but in the end approximately 332,000 euros were paid – because not all the invited guests turned up at the event.

For example, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to address summit participants remotely rather than in person, for obvious reasons.

"First of all, our priority was the success of the summit. We may not have paid attention to draw up all the acts and protocols on the eve of the summit, but to do everything possible to keep those machines rolling, so that everything happened to the minute, everything happened to the second," Teikmanis said.

However, when asked to reveal who provided the transport services in question, Teikmanis said that it could not be done.

"I will not be able to name any of the specific suppliers. It was information with limited availability, it is, and that's how it usually is," said the head of the Chancellery. 

According to the information available to LTV, the chancellery used part of the funds saved at the summit to cover the expenses of the President's other business trips, as there were more foreign trips last year than originally planned.

The Chancellery also attracted scrutiny from LTV recently for a 24% year-on-year increase in its financing from the state budget despite the fact that its number of employees remained static at 61, including the President himself. 

Public information shows that in the period since 2019, when Egils Levits took office, the total amount of funds intended for compensation of the employees of the Office of the President has increased by more than 60%, it was revealed on the What's Happening In Latvia? show May 17.

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