During the pre-trial investigation, KNAB obtained evidence of abuse of official position for greedy purposes, falsification of an official document and making false statements about property or other income n declarations of a public official.
KNAB does not disclose the name of the person, but there have been previous reports in other media that KNAB is investigating another criminal case related to several alleged offenses of the former Executive Director of the Garkalne Municipality Council, Jeļena Toca.
KNAB explains that the legal framework allows a municipality to pay a severance pay when dismissing an employee by mutual agreement. In such a situation, the amount of the severance payment may not exceed 70% of the average monthly earnings of the person concerned.
Evidence obtained by the KNAB shows that the former Executive Director of the Garkalne Municipality Council, possibly abusing her official position for greedy purposes, accepted applications for dismissal of two employees of the municipal administration and payment of a severance payment that was not in accordance with the regulatory enactments.
As a result of the alleged criminal activities of the former Executive Director, the municipality has suffered a total damage of EUR 12,360.20.
The investigation also revealed that the public official may have intentionally approved a document containing factually incorrect information concerning the recruitment of two persons.
The investigation also revealed that the former Executive Director had failed to disclose information on income of EUR 35,000 and cash savings of the same amount in the public official declarations to be submitted to the State Revenue Service over a period of four years.
The Public Prosecutor's Office, as the instigator of the proceedings, must decide on the further course of the criminal proceedings. The present criminal proceedings were initiated on April 21 2023 on the basis of information provided by the State Audit Office.
