Bild scandal can't be discussed because there is a lawsuit

It is something like a collective conspiracy. The figures involved - the Prime Minister, ministers, MPs, and ultimately the coalition as a whole - are perfectly aware that the Latvian state has been shamed in front of an audience of more than nine million, but they keep quiet about it and do not defend the reputation of the Latvian state. The reason for this silence has just become clear. It is an international lawsuit involving the Latvian State.

To be precise, the litigation relates to one aspect of the scandal - the collapse of PNB Bank - but it may also involve other allegations, such as those mentioned in the article of German newspaper Bild "Mafia crime thriller in Latvia. Ex-BND chief and ex-NATO boss victims of a crazy 'bank robbery'". For example, that our supervisory authorities are covering up a flood of dirty money from Russia, that the Minister for Justice and the head of the Legal Affairs Committee received a bribe of €500,000 to allow PNB Bank to be robbed, and that the head of our government is covering up corruption at the highest level. The article was published last November in Europe's largest and most influential newspaper, which is feared by all German politicians and frightens ours too. They are still completely silent.

Dog does not eat dog

After Neatkarīgā drew attention to the tarnished reputation of the Latvian state and Bild's allegations, which should be publicly refuted or at least evaluated, the only politician who responded was Māris Možvillo, a member of the Saeima. He first called for the scandalous situation to be discussed in the Saeima Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee. However, the head of the commission, Juris Rancāns, refused to do so, and the reason is quite prosaic - he is a member of the party of the two personalities mentioned in the scandal. After all, he cannot criticize the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns, fellow MP Juris Jurašs, and the New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija), which he represents. Then Māris Možvillo wrote another letter - to Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.

A nonsensical reply

Neatkarīgā also contacted the Prime Minister's Office in the past, but received the following bland explanation:

"Latvia has successfully implemented an overhaul of financial sector supervision, which has been commended by the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval). Any complaints should be addressed through legal channels to the relevant authorities. The competent financial sector supervisory authorities exercise their functions to ensure full supervision and transparency of the financial sector and, where necessary, provide information and cooperate with law enforcement authorities. The Prime Minister forwards the applications received to the competent authorities for consideration."

The Prime Minister was not asked about the procedure for examining the submissions at the State Chancellery, but about the accusations against Latvia and its officials of violating international sanctions, corruption and money laundering described in the Bild article. Will there be a reaction to this and how? But no substantive answer was given.

Because communication is not desirable

The Prime Minister's Office has taken the letter from Možvillo more seriously because, apart from the decorative conclusion that the Prime Minister has no right to interfere in the work of law enforcement authorities, but also has no reason to question their competence, the Office explains why the Bild scandal is being kept quiet:

"In addition to the above, we would like to point out that the arbitration proceedings between JSC PNB Banka, Grigory Guselnikov (and other related persons) and the State of Latvia are currently active in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (arbitration case no. ARB/17/47).

Given that the arbitration proceedings are or may be dealing with issues directly or indirectly related to the allegations in your letter, we consider that, from the point of view of representing the interests of the State, any public communication by the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister's Office or the State Chancellery regarding the allegations in your letter is not desirable at this time."

This is the reason why Minister Bordāns and MP Jurašs did not answer the questions posed by Neatkarīgā, but instead turned to the State Police with an order to open criminal proceedings. And not against Bild, which was spreading serious accusations against the Latvian state and its officials to a huge audience. But against Neatkarīgā, which wrote about the fact that such a publication had been written and was still freely available on the Internet: "Mafia-Krimi in Lettland Ex-BND-Chef und Ex-Nato-Boss Opfer eines irren 'Bankraubes'".

Interested people may read the full article.