Corruption, Estonia, Latvia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

Ossinovski’s lawyer Saulvedis Varpins told LETA that his client does not admit his guilt in the corruption case although he does not deny giving money to Magonis. “He has explained his position to investigators. He did give the money, but for other purposes than those claimed by the Corruption Prevention Bureau (CPB),” the lawyer said.

Ossinovski, who lives in Estonia, has not been remanded in custody, but he has provided testimonies and has not avoided the investigation.

Varpins told LETA already in August 2015 that Magonis and Ossinovski had concluded a deal in a third party’s interests but that it was not related to the purchase of diesel locomotives from Ossinovski’s Skinest company. Varpins declined to identify the company involved in the deal.

As reported, the CPB has requested the Prosecutor General's Office to begin prosecuting the former head of Latvian Railways Ugis Magonis for accepting a EUR 500,000 bribe.

A statement on the CPB's web-site says that the state official accepted a bribe in connection with a tender involving LDz's subsidiary LDz Ritosa Sastava Serviss.

The lead CPB investigator in the case has requested that Magonis be prosecuted for accepting a large-scale bribe, as well as another individual for giving the bribe to a state official with the aim of achieving a favorable decision.

The CPB is not releasing any further information on this matter at the moment.

LETA also reported, the Corruption Prevention Bureau suspects Magonis of accepting a bribe of EUR 500,000 so that LDz subsidiary LDz Ritosa Sastava Serviss would purchase four old locomotives for several million euros from the Estonian millionaire Oleg Ossinovski's company Skinest. Ossinovski denies any corrupt practices in the sale of the locomotives.

Magonis was dismissed from the job on August 7 and has since been released on bail.

Ossinovski, meanwhile, has been declared a suspect in the case.