"I will not remain silent." Why only the former director of the State Chancellery was accused in the case of Karins' flights

Why was only one person - the former director of the State Chancellery, Janis Citskovskis, who was not involved in the decision-making about the special flights - accused in the case of former Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins' flights? This topic is explored by the magazine Ir.

"The prosecution says that I should have controlled this and I am responsible for the fact that Karins and his office made the wrong decision, even though I was not there at all," said Citskovskis.

In his opinion, such a precedent undermines the foundations of accountability. "This means that no politician, no minister is responsible for anything," he notes. However, prosecutor David Gurevich emphasizes that the charges were not brought for decisions regarding the ordering of special charter flights for the prime minister's business trips, but for insufficient oversight.

"Who else, if not the director of the State Chancellery as the head of the institution, was obliged to know and monitor whether budget funds were being spent legally and appropriately?" the prosecutor stated.

The case has been transferred to the Riga City Court, with the first hearing scheduled for April. Citskovskis states that he will not remain silent: "There will be facts that will come to light in court. The materials have been collected, and the moral and ethical values of [Karins] will manifest not only regarding the charter flights."

Over three years, Karins went on foreign business trips 53 times, and in 32 cases, special flights were used - separate planes for delegations of 4-8 people, which cost about 5-8 times more than business class on regular commercial flights.

The state audit indicated that in eight cases, the decision to use special flights was illegal and caused damage to the state budget of at least 221,566 euros, and at least 323,688 euros from EU funds were spent unreasonably on the prime minister's flights to European Council meetings.

Due to the possible large-scale embezzlement of public funds, the Prosecutor General's Office initiated a criminal process. After a year and a half of investigation, the prosecution concluded that the State Chancellery illegally spent 89,382.90 euros on four business trips in 2022, according to Ir.

"Evaluating from the perspective of criminal law, we can say without a doubt that the funds were used illegally for four business trips," the prosecutor stated, explaining why the amount is significantly less than that identified by the State Audit. The prosecutor acknowledges that many people were indeed involved in the decision-making chain; however, only Citskovskis has been held criminally liable because he, as the head of the institution, was responsible for the appropriate use of budget funds.

What is the essence of the case? As previously reported, Krisjanis Karins, the former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, and Janis Citskovskis, the former head of the State Chancellery of Latvia, are linked to a scandal over unjustifiably expensive special flights during Karins' leadership, which led to Citskovskis being suspended and then dismissed. A criminal case has been initiated against Citskovskis.

Karins believes that the former head of the State Chancellery, Citskovskis, is being unjustly accused in the "flight case." He expressed this opinion earlier on TV3.