The trial has been ongoing for more than 20 years: why the acquittal in the 'digital case' was overturned

The entire VIP list of defendants, who had already exhaled and celebrated their complete innocence, is returning to the dock. The case has been sent back for consideration to the Riga District Court.

For those who have forgotten: back in the 2000s, a project to implement digital television was launched in Latvia, costing several tens of millions of lats. Since then, for more than 20 years, investigations and trials regarding this project have been ongoing at various levels.

At the center of this endless criminal series are the titans of Latvian politics and business — former Minister of Communications and now Deputy of the Riga City Council Ainars Slesers (leader of the party 'Latvia First') and former Prime Minister Andris Skele.

They are joined by former top managers: the ex-head of the telecommunications giant 'Tet' (then 'Lattelecom') Juris Gulbis, former State Secretary of the Ministry of Communications Nils Freivalds, ex-head of the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) Lauris Dripes, as well as former commercial director of 'Tet' Janis Ligers, department heads Toms Abele and Toms Meisit, and former board member of 'Hannu Digital' Gintars Kavacis.

In brief, the essence of the accusation: the defendants were planning to involve a specific enterprise, Hannu Digital, as an intermediary in the project to implement digital television in Latvia, resulting in it receiving several million euros, while the state project would unjustifiably become more expensive. (For more details, see below in the section Digit-2: why 9 people are being prosecuted).

For all 9 defendants, the prosecutor at one time requested quite substantial fines instead of prison sentences. Slesers was demanded to be found guilty of fraud and presented with a bill for 65,000 euros. For Gulbis, Dripes, and Kavacis, prosecutors requested 75,000 euros each, for Freivalds and Ligers — 60,000 euros each, for Abele — 50,000 euros, and Meisit was assessed 45,000 euros.

The defendants, in turn, have repeatedly denied the prosecutor's version. Thus, politician Ainars Slesers stated to journalists that the case regarding 'Digit-2' was simply fabricated.

Judge: "If there is no victim, there are no guilty parties"

Why were acquittals issued in this case?

For example, as Judge Kaspars Vecozols explained to journalists after the decision of the Economic Affairs Court (EAC), dated January 31, 2022, it was only possible to acquit:

• in a fraud case, there must be a victim and damage caused to the victims through forgery or deception;

• from the materials of the case, it is clear: the alleged victim is SIA 'Tet' (at that time 'Lattelecom'), but the company itself did not recognize its status as a victim;

• at the same time, both former and current officials who were interrogated indicated that there was no deception when concluding contracts, and no harm was caused to the society;

Therefore, the defendants were acquitted. "Under such circumstances, the court had no grounds to find them guilty of fraud," the judge summarized.

In this regard, it is worth noting: after the EAC, the Riga District Court also recognized all the defendants as innocent and acquitted them.

However, the prosecution consistently appealed these decisions.

Flight analysis from the Senate: why the acquittal was overturned

The Department of Criminal Affairs of the Senate of Latvia examined the prosecutor's cassation protest and overturned the previous verdict of the Riga District Court, reported the Supreme Court's advisor on communication issues Viesturs Lacis.

(His words are quoted in our retelling so that people unfamiliar with jurisprudence can understand at least something. - ed).

The first thing the Senate harshly pointed out was the flawed logic of the judges. The Riga District Court decided: since the winner of the competition — the company SIA 'TET' — ultimately made a profit from the project, then the payment of millions to the intermediary did not cause any losses.

However, the Senate explained: the fact that the project brought some profit does not mean that millions were not stolen from the company in the process. The court merely assessed the evidence superficially, tore it out of context, and interpreted it contrary to its actual content.

The second blunder of the judges was the ignoring of witness testimonies and conclusions from government agencies regarding how the rules of the game were established. The prosecution claims that the text of the Cabinet of Ministers' rules was deliberately rewritten after it was agreed upon at a meeting of state secretaries. This was done with one goal — to legally justify the pushing of a private intermediary into the state scheme.

The District Court simply skimmed over this detective line of accusation, failing to adequately refute it with evidence. At the same time, the judges did not properly assess the State Audit Office's report, which clearly outlined how the competition's provisions were manipulated and how it ultimately proceeded.

Since the first-instance courts failed to assess the fact of fraud (which is a basic crime), the Senate also had to overturn the acquittal on the money laundering charge. Additionally, the decision not to apply coercive measures to the involved legal entities was also overturned.

Along the way, the Senate clarified the nuances of the third part of Article 177 of the Criminal Code (fraud). Namely: hitting someone else's pocket can be done not only directly, but also indirectly. If you misled officials or entire government institutions that approve transactions, thinking that "everything is clean" — this is still considered full-fledged fraud.

In summary: the case numbered SKK-1/2026 (12812000910) is returned to the Riga District Court.

Digit-2: why 9 people are being prosecuted

According to the prosecution, this concerns large-scale fraud and organized group actions during the project for the introduction of digital television in 2008-2009.

As a result, nine people found themselves in the dock: former Prime Minister of Latvia Skele, former Minister of Transport Slesers, former chairman of the board of LLC Tet Juris Gulbis, former State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Nils Freivalds, former chairman of the board of the Latvian State Radio and Television Center Lauris Dripes. Also accused are the then commercial director Janis Ligers, head of the business department Toms Abele, head of the business support department Toms Meisit, and former head of the company Hannu Digital Gintars Kavacis.

The charges are based on articles of the Criminal Code regarding fraud and the legalization of criminally obtained funds, the prosecution previously reported. Specifically: in connection with actions during the competition announced by the Ministry of Transport in 2008 for the provision of terrestrial broadcasting of television programs in digital format and based on the contracts concluded between LLC Tet, LLC Hannu Digital, and the state-owned Latvijas Valsts radio un televīzijas centrs (LVRTC).

The investigation believes that the actions of the accused were aimed at illegally and unjustifiably involving LLC Hannu Digital in this project, resulting in LLC Hannu Digital receiving money from Tet amounting to several million euros, which unjustifiably made the project itself more expensive.

Prosecutor Zelcs explained when transferring the case to court that each defendant had their own role in the crime they are accused of. The likely amount of criminally obtained funds was not disclosed by the prosecutor, but unofficially it is about three million euros.

According to the Criminal Code, large-scale fraud is punishable by imprisonment for a term of two to ten years with or without confiscation of property. For the legalization of criminally obtained financial assets, if done on a large scale, imprisonment for a term of three to twelve years with or without confiscation of property may be imposed.