Businessman stripped of state award

"In accordance with the decision of the Chapter of Orders [the body which administers the handing out of state awards] of 23 February 2021, the awarded person, who has been found guilty of an intentional criminal offense by a court judgment that has entered into force, has been deprived of the high Latvian state award - the Cross of Recognition," said a statement, naming businessman Gūnars Bubulis as the individual in question.

The Chapter of Orders does not evaluate the merits for which a state award was once granted, and does not evaluate the circumstances of the specific criminal proceedings, but has a statutory obligation to deprive a person who has been convicted of an intentional criminal offense by a court judgment which has entered into force.

The Chapter of Orders said: "Receiving the highest state awards is not only a recognition of a lifetime's work, but at the same time a great responsibility to be a worthy bearer of the received award in the years to come."

As reported by LTV's De Facto investigative show in January, businessman Gūnars Bubulis was at the center of a bribery scandal involving municipal contracts in the city of Jelgava. In 2016 Bubulis received a fourth-class Cross of Recognition from then-President Raimonds Vējonis “for a significant contribution to the improvement of the work of the Latvian environmental and waste sector”.