Reform with a Scandalous Aftermath: The Tax and Customs Police Faces Court 0 13

Its leader has been appointed as the former head of the criminal police, Andrei Grishin, and the previous director, Aigars Prusaks, has taken the position of deputy. Meanwhile, court proceedings continue regarding the disciplinary actions applied to him and his colleagues, reports the Latvian Television program "De facto."

With the arrival of the new year, one of the largest reforms in recent times took place in the State Revenue Service (SRS). Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens acknowledged that the reform process, which lasted two years, was painful for everyone.

"Somehow we created such a convoluted legislative system that a relatively small government decision to transfer one service to another agency had serious legislative consequences. This took two years. A whole supervisory council was created, we changed laws, etc. I think we need to look for other legal solutions. The external environment in the world is changing so rapidly that the state needs to think about how to make decisions quickly," said the minister.

The structural unit of the SRS, previously known as the financial police and in recent years as the tax and customs police, has been separated not only from the SRS but also from its supervisory body, the Ministry of Finance, and has become an independent investigative institution under the supervision of the Minister of the Interior.

"The tax and customs police, in most cases, initiate criminal proceedings based on data or information provided by the SRS. Our cooperation, of course, will continue, but I do not see a difference in whether it is a separate institution or under our jurisdiction. In any case, the SRS is now truly becoming exclusively a service institution for the residents and entrepreneurs of Latvia," noted the Director General of the Tax Service, Baiba Shmite-Roke.