Construction, Latvia, Legislation, Lithuania

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Latvian and Lithuanian law enforcement authorities conduct searches at two construction firms

BC, Riga, 09.05.2017.Print version
Officers of Latvian and Lithuanian law enforcement authorities have conducted searches at two construction companies of the two countries, reported LETA/BNS.

Officers from the Klaipeda department of the Lithuanian Special Investigation Service raided a Lithuanian construction firm as part of an international pre-trial investigation into suspected public procurement fraud.


The Special Investigation Service said that it was investigating the case in collaboration with the Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) whose employees searched the home and office of a Latvian construction company’s CEO, a woman identified a S.A. The Latvian company, just like the Lithuanian firm, is involved in construction and renovation projects.

The law enforcement authorities suspect the above companies of entering an illegal agreement on terms for participation in public tenders. It is thought that by coordinating their actions the two companies won a contract whose value was increased by more than EUR 3 million.


“With such illegal actions the companies probably caused material damage to the Lithuanian state as they might have breached the provisions regarding fair competition stipulated in Article 46 of the Lithuanian Constitution and crippled the principles set in the Public Procurement Law,” the Lithuanian Special Investigation Service said.


Nobody has been charged in connection with the case as yet.


In March 2017, Lithuanian builder Hidrostatyba and Latvia’s BMGS won a EUR 14.837 mln tender to reconstruct the embankments used by Vakaru Laivu Gamykla (Western Shipyard, or VLG), a Lithuanian shipbuilding and repairing group controlled by Estonia's BLRT Grupp.

BMGS CEO is Svetlana Afanasjeva.


LETA was told at the BMGS office that they had no information about a search at the company. The construction firm’s representatives indicated that their working hours had ended and they could not provide any comments.


According to information from Firmas.lv, BMGS, established in 1993, closed 2015 with EUR 56.711 mln in turnover, down 43%t from a year before. The company’s 2015 profit grew 2% y-o-y to EUR 1.042 mln. Financial results for 2016 are not yet available.






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