On May 12, businessman Gulam Gulami was detained by the State Police, reported Latvian Television May 13.
Over the weekend of May 9 and 10, a major theft occurred at a warehouse of the largest IT product distributor in the Baltic States, "ELKO Grupa" in Riga.
Police will increase operations over the holiday weekend to make sure people are observing restrictions to limit the spread of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus, according to acting State Police Chief Andrejs Grišins on April 30.
On Tuesday, April 28, the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers supported the action plan developed by the Ministry of Justice and other responsible institutions to implement anti-bribery and anti-corruption measures recommended by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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.
The Latvian Centre for Human Rights (LCC) has been monitoring hate speech on the internet and reporting it to NGOs, and while pandemic-related hate speech in Latvia is lower than the global average, it's nonetheless visible, according to LCC Director Anhelita Kamenska.
On Saturday evening, April 18, a few hundred cars gathered at Rumbula Airfield in violation of social distancing restrictive measures, according to Rīga Municipal Police on April 21.
Kristīne Misāne, a Latvian citizen who was previously in line to be extradited from Denmark to South Africa but was instead transferred to Latvia, was released from prison on Monday, April 20, reported LSM's Latvian language service.
A church in Liepāja, Latvia's third-largest city, continued to hold public gatherings over the Easter weekend, despite emergency laws designed to protect the public from the spread of coronavirus being in place, reported Latvian Radio April 17.
Last week Nature Conservation Agency state environmental inspectors caught a local resident illegally cutting trees in Slītere National Park, according to the agency on April 14.
The Latvian State Police have for the first time fined a resident the maximum penalty for violating the Covid-19 quarantine, reported the LETA newswire April 13.
Criminal proceedings have been brought against a group of persons who are accused of attempting to legalize more than seven million euros of illicit funds using several companies and shady transactions, according to the State Revenue Service (VID) on April 9.
On March 30, 2020, Latvia's State Security Service (VDD) initiated a criminal prosecution against an individual in connection with offensive comments made about deportations to Siberia under Soviet occupation, according to information posted on the VDD's website on April 8.
The Vidzeme District Court in Rīga has ordered controversial Saeima MP Aldis Gobzems to pay €11,833 to the family of Mārtiņš Bunkus, a lawyer who was murdered in broad daylight in Rīga two years ago in a case that remains unsolved.
Three police officers who have tested positive for the Covid-19 novel coronavirus, and one was infected while performing police duties, according to Acting State Police Chief Andrejs Grišins.
Fire season in Latvia gets a bit dangerous when the illegal, but popular practice of burning last year's grass begins in the spring - over the weekend the State Fire and Rescue Service had to put out 121 such fires, but this year landfill fires are entering the ring too - one on March 28 in Tukums and another today in Rīga, according to Latvian Television.
Today a fake news WhatsApp message warning about the coming spread of a phone virus has been spreading in Latvia via the mobile messaging application, according to Information Technology Security Incident Response Institution Cert.lv on March 23.
Prosecutor General Ēriks Kalnmeiers has submitted a demand to the Vidzeme Regional Court that the First Evangelical Jesus Congregation (Pirmā Evanģēliskā Jēzus draudze) cease operations, according to a press release on March 20.
Kristīne Misāne has been charged after being returned from Denmark in a high-profile case that sparked diplomatic tensions between Denmark and Latvia, reported LTV March 16.
An internal investigation conducted by Clifford Chance revealed that 4.8 million US dollars' worth of Swedbank transactions in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia could have possibly been made in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a Swedbank press release on March 11.
After checking the content of 18 Instagram "influencers", all were found to have some form of advertising standards violation, most of which were not disclosing paid advertising, according to the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC) on March 9.
The State Police Economic Crimes Unit (ENAP) has begun 50 criminal procedures regarding possible money laundering through ABLV Bank, according to the State Police on March 6.
Latvian State Police said March 9 they have seized half a million dollars in assets linked to the notorious and complex Russian money-laundering operation that caused the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
Latvian citizen Kristīne Misāne was returned from Denmark to Latvia on March 3, LTV reported.
In 2019 the number of criminal cases handed in to the courts involving money laundering increased significantly, along with the number of defendants, according to the Prosecution Office on February 27.
UK communications regulator Ofcom fined Baltic Media Alliance 20,000 pounds (23,000 euros) after receiving a complaint from the Latvian National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) regarding violations on the NTV Mir Baltic television channel broadcast by the company, according to the regulator on February 17.
Several hundred whistleblower reports have been received almost a full year since the Whistleblowing Law took effect in Latvia, although only 25% meet the criteria, according to State Chancellery Director Jānis Citskovskis on February 26.
The high profile extradition case of Kristīne Misāne has put the spotlight on Latvians detained abroad. On average, 300 Latvian citizens and nationals (so-called "non-citizens" are also entitled to consular protection) are detained abroad for various types of crimes each year, reported Latvian Radio on February 25.
A black panther confiscated by the Latvian State Police in the Skanste neighborhood has ended up in the Rīga Zoo along with the crocodile, monkey, owls, wolves and lynxes confiscated over the past few years, according to Latvian Television's “4. studija” (“4th Studio”) on February 23.
Extraordinary scenes at the Ukraine-Hungary border have been released featuring one of Latvia's Honorary Consuls in Ukraine being dragged from his car after he refused to comply with requests to leave it by the normal method.