Construction, Corruption, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

Photo: latvijas-tilti.lv

Although KNAB did not identify the company in question, LETA found out that the legal entity involved in the case is Latvijas Tilti construction firm. 

According to the anti-corruption bureau's statement to the press, KNAB launched the bribery probe on June 6. The investigation established that in 2016, a representative of the legal entity paid more than EUR 10,000 in bribes to a Lithuanian official in order to secure a decision in the company's favor.

In sending the bribery case to the Prosecutor General's Office, KNAB has concluded the investigation, and it is now up to the prosecution to decide on pressing changes against Latvijas Tilti. 

Latvian Television reported last year that KNAB had started a criminal investigation against Latvijas Tilti whose former CEO Genadijs Kamkalovs is on trial for bribing a Lithuanian port official.

In the criminal case, Gediminas Zumaras, the Klaipeda port's former director for infrastructure, was charged with accepting a large bribe and Latvian citizen Genadijs Kamkalovs, a former chairman of the management board at Latvijas Tilti, was charged with bribing the port official.

According to Lithuania's Special Investigation Service (STT), the bribe exceeded 9,500 euros, or 250 amounts of minimum standard of living (MSL). Under the Lithuanian Criminal Code, such an offence is punishable by imprisonment of between two and eight years.

Latvijas Tilti, registered in 1991, has a share capital of EUR 1.012 million, according to information available at Firmas.lv. The company's financial results for 2019 have not been released, but in 2018 Latvijas Tilti turned over EUR 18.369 million and suffered a EUR 668,180 loss.