Corruption watchdog detains former Daugavpils mayor

Take note – story published 5 years ago

Taking yet more municipal action, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has detained former Daugavpils mayor Rihards Eigims (Mūsu partija, Our Party) over a bribery probe.

That's what sources told LTV December 18. 

Anti-graft officers earlier today searched Eigims' cabinet, which he still has as a regular deputee at the council.

Following the search, the KNAB told the press that two persons have been detained in a case in which a Daugavpils official has allegedly asked for a €10,000 bribe from a private individual over favorable treatment in a procurement procedure.

It later emerged that Eigims' computer and data carriers were confiscated to match some information against that at the disposal of the investigation.

According to a document published by the grani.lv portal, the searches at the Daugavpils City Council were related to four procurements, worth €4m in total, awarded to the Modus būve construction company from 2016 to 2018. One of the tenders may be a project for reconstructing the sports hall of the J. Pilsudska Daugavpils State Gymnasium. 

According to Crediweb.lv data, Modus būve is owned by Jānis Sprūga (60%) as well as Ainārs Butkus and Jurijs Malahvejs (both 20%). In 2017 the company's turnover was €3.6 million, and it operated with a profit of €11,200.

In November, Eigims was unseated as the mayor of Daugavpils, the second-largest city in Latvia. But his fitness for office had been contested earlier by the State Language Center, which fined him for not knowing enough Latvian earlier this year. 

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