Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is among nine persons being sued by the administrators of the insolvent Latvian bank “PNB”, LTV's investigative program De Facto reported October 4.
Author's articles
Last Monday, trees at the former bicycle track "Marss" were unexpectedly cut despite protests. Latvian Television reported September 6 that authorities involved had said this had nothing to do with politics and Riga City Council elections.
The State Revenue Service (VID) has begun investigating Binders road construction company's transactions with a little-known Lithuanian company owned by a Latvian hotelier who went bankrupt 20 years ago, based on information gathered by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FID), according to Latvian Television's “De facto” broadcast on April 26.
At a time when even Pope Fracis decided to live stream Easter Sunday mass, the men's homeless shelter run by the Blue Cross Evangelical Christian Congregation in Rīga, now containing Latvia's largest Covid-19 novel coronavirus outbreak concentration, held a prayer service with 30-50 people, after which some who attended took to the streets to preach and “heal” even after the state of emergency had been declared and restrictions on public gatherings implemented, according to Latvian Telvision's “DeFacto” broadcast on April 19.
Agriculture Minister Kaspars Gerhards (National Alliance) decided to ignore objections by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM) to tree felling law amendments, and direct them for review to the Cabinet of Ministers without conducting additional studies, according Latvian Television's “De Facto” broadcast on January 26.
A Latvian mother is facing the prospect of extradition to South Africa from Denmark to face trial after fleeing with her children, prompting questions to be asked by LTV's De Facto investigative show about whether Latvia has done enough to represent its citizen in a complex international legal wrangle.
European Union member country finance ministers have agreed that the EU Council Legal Service will continue to work on amending the transparency directive, and if previous concerns are eliminated, the Latvian government will also support the directive, according to the De Facto broadcast on December 8.
The Riga Freeport board decided to sign a 40 million euro contract for the construction of the Kundiņsala overpass with companies possibly associated with persons charged in the “construction cartel” scandal and amid leadership reorganization at the Riga City Council, according to the November 17 LTV broadcast De Facto.
The officials responsible have known for some time that there are problems within the “Rīgas satiksme” (Rīga transport) subsidiary “Rīgas karte”, which is responsible for maintaining the “e-talons” electronic card payment system operated by public transport in Riga, reports LTV's De Facto investigative show.
A leading German marketing and public relations specialist - which has in the past worked on election campaigns for Chancellor Angela Merkel - was paid large sums by Rīga Tourism Development Bureau (RTAB) while also advising the Harmony political party which runs Rīga city council. reported LTV's De Facto May 19.
The multiple ongoing scandals at the Rīgas satiksme (Riga transport) municipal company increased by yet another order of magnitude April 28 with LTV's De Facto investigative show revealing the identities of more "consulatants" paid large sums of money by the company for services of dubious value - with the suspicion that the payments were more about ensuring political support than anything to do with running a transport system more efficiently.
Škoda Transportation representatives visited the offices of Rīga mayor Nils Ušakovs (Harmony), a week before Ušakovs' office and home were searched by Latvia's anti-graft squad, the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), reported LTV's De facto February 3.
The National Security Committee (NDK) of the Latvian Saeima is still waiting for several of its members to obtain the necessary security clearance, LTV's De Facto investigative show reported January 27.
A Latvian-registered firm and its Turkish owner recently sanctioned by the United States for trying to sell arms to North Korea may hold several bank accounts in Latvia, though the extent to which these might have been used in connection with this activity is not clear, reported LTV's De Facto investigative news show October 28.