The State Revenue Service (VID) Tax and Customs Police recently searched properties linked to journalist and author Lato Lapsa and public relations specialist Jurģis Liepnieks.
De Facto said that contrary to speculation that the raids were politically motivated, they were conducted as part of an investigation into a chain of transactions using several companies controlled by the same group of persons, linked to companies that went bust and left large tax debts behind. The amount of losses to the state could reach several hundred thousand euros, De Facto said.
However, Lapsa denied that the news website he runs could have been used to launder any significant amounts, describing it as "physically impossible" given the small scale of the operation. Similarly, members of Lapsa's family denied any involvement in wrongdoing.
Liepnieks, who runs a similar news website, says he was not questioned in the case even as a witness, and did not know anything about it, while freely admitting that he sometimes works in collaboration with Lapsa.
"If there are any accusations or accusations, then we will work with them and look at them. I do not know anything," he said.
Chief of the VID Tax and Customs Police Kaspars Podiņš said that the case centered on money obtained as a result of public relations services, without naming the individuals involved.
"These persons controlled dozens of fictitious shell companies, also companies that really worked, but the scheme is designed in such a way that, in order for a company that really works not to have to pay taxes, the tax burden has been shifted to these fictitious companies,” said Podiņš.
The investigation continues.
