Why was only one person - former State Chancellery director Janis Citskovskis, who was not involved in the decision-making regarding special flights - accused in the case of former Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins' flights?
"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," says Citskovskis. In his opinion, such a precedent undermines the foundations of accountability, writes the magazine Ir.
"This means that no politician, no minister is accountable 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 control.
"Who else, if not the director of the State Chancellery as the head of the institution, was obliged to know and ensure that budget funds were spent legally and reasonably?" 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 approximately 5-8 times more than business class on regular commercial flights.
The State Audit Office indicated in its audit results 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. Following the possible large-scale embezzlement of state 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.
"Evaluating from the perspective of criminal law, we can say without a doubt that the funds were illegally used for four business trips," said the prosecutor, explaining why the amount is significantly less than that identified by the State Audit Office.
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 reasonable expenditure of budget funds.
