According to LETA, former manager Jānis Šēnfelds, as well as two other employees, Aleksandrs Ivanovs and Jevgenijs Žernovs, were found guilty in the case.
The company itself stated that the first suspicions of dishonest behavior arose more than 6 years ago. "We immediately informed the State Police, who started investigating the case. Throughout the process, we closely cooperated with the law enforcement authorities in the investigation of the case. We are grateful to all involved parties for the resolution of this case and bringing the perpetrators to justice," the company said, according to LETA.
The judgment of the Riga District Court shows that at first Šenfelds acted alone, but later worked in concert with others to demand kickbacks from "Ikšķiles delikateses food" – a meat processing company that was one of Maxima's suppliers.
In 2014, a supply agreement was signed between "Maxima Latvija" and "Ikšķiles delikateses food" for the delivery of products. Šenfelds negotiated with the supplier and signed contracts for the purchase of goods.
Taking advantage of his position, after concluding the contract he went on to illegally demand bribes worth 4% of the turnover of the delivered goods and threatened that if the bribe was not paid, the existing contract would be terminated.
Later, Šenfelds ended his work at the company, but continued to receive bribes together with his associates.
Ivanovs was convicted of money laundering worth 24,587 euros. In order to mask the nature and true origin of cash, he turned it into other assets, investing in the construction of a garden house and a sauna building, paying in cash for the work done and the construction materials used.
The court of first instance sentenced Ivanovs to a fine of 7,500 euros and a suspended prison sentence of three years and six months, while Šenfelds got a fine of 6,000 euros, and Žernovs a fine of 3,500 euros.
Last year, "Maxima Latvija" worked with a turnover of 1.073 billion euros, which is 10.1% more than a year before, while the company's profit increased by 84.9% - up to 56.529 million euros. The company has almost 7,000 employees in Latvia and a total of more than 30,000 employees in five countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria.
The company "Ikšķiles delikateses food" has been liquidated.
