Anti-corruption cops nab former Daugavpils mayor... again

Take note – story published 4 years ago

The former mayor of Latvia's second largest city, Daugavpils, has been detained by officers of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Burea (KNAB), Latvia's dedicated anti-graft force, LTV reported October 9. It named politician Rihards Eigims as the detainee.

Shortly after the news broke, KNAB issued a statement saying it had conducted searches and detained two people in a case involving Daugavpils City Council, though in line with standard procedure it did not name the individuals involved.

"KNAB is conducting urgent procedural actions, including no less than five authorized searches, as part of a previously initiated criminal procedure," the agency said.

The criminal proceedings were initiated on 25 September and the case file contains evidence that a Daugavpils City Council official between January 2018 and August 2018 allegedly accepted bribes of at least 6,000 euros from a company representative for assisting in procurement procedures for the Daugavpils City Council, as well as money laundering, KNAB added. 

Currently, two persons have been detained, including one public official, it confirmed.

Rihards Eigims is no stranger to headlines. Last year he was involved in a bitter power struggle for the mayor's seat with rival Andrejs Elksniņš (now serving mayor) and he has also found himself the subject of attention and fines for his surprisingly poor command of the Latvian language. Eigims has in the past served as a member of the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, for the Greens and Farmers' Union (ZZS).

He has also been detained by KNAB in the past.

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