The declarations of public officials show that some civil servants in Latvia can become millionaires, as they say - from their salaries alone.
How is this possible?
For example, for many years, Līga Kļaviņa, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), has been allowed to combine her position as Deputy State Secretary of the MoF with the position of Chair of the Supervisory Board of the state joint stock company Development Finance Institution Altum, as well as the position of Latvia's representative in the supreme governing body of the Nordic Investment Bank.
Accordingly, Kļaviņa has received a salary of around €100,000 per year for her public service for several years.
This also means that Līga Kļaviņa has received around €8,000 per month for several years.
For example, in 2021, Kļaviņa will receive €69,700 in salary from the Ministry of Finance, €26,700 from Altum and €8,000 from the Nordic Investment Bank.
Accordingly, it can be calculated that in 2021 Kļaviņa will have received more than €104,000 in salaries in her public service.
Without going into details, the high position of a Latvian public official (with a permit to combine posts) has allowed Kļaviņa to receive this annual remuneration as Deputy State Secretary for Financial Policy:
€108,000 in 2020,
€104,000 in 2019,
€97,000 in 2018,
€92,000 in 2017,
€70,000 in 2016,
€72,000 in 2015,
€54,000 in 2014,
€47,000 in 2013,
€37,000 in 2012.
Over ten years, the total is €785,000. This means that (taking into account the trend in salary increases to date),
to reach the status of millionaire civil servant, the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Līga Kļaviņa, only has to work this year to the end and a few more months!
She became Deputy State Secretary at the MoF in 2012.
Interestingly, the rather sizable salary has not allowed Kļaviņa to build up substantial savings (in 2021, she declared that she had saved only 15,000 euros and 22 cents), nor has she made large transactions (public officials have to declare transactions exceeding 20 minimum monthly salaries, i.e. 10,000 euros). For example, in 2021 only a "sale" of €14,000 was declared.
It can only be concluded that Kļaviņa has a habit of spending money on small things.
She has not bought any fine cars either. She owns only a 2009 Volvo V70. What better advertisement for this brand of car?
Another interesting fact, as evidenced by Kļaviņa's declarations as a public official, is that she started her public service in 2001 as a traffic police inspector. Here is a striking proof that traffic police inspectors in Latvia can grow up to be millionaires!
It only remains to add that Kļaviņa's spouse is Andžejs Kļaviņš, who is mentioned in the media as a close associate of former KNAB employee Juris Jurašs (Conservatives, Konservatīvie).
It is only logical that Kļaviņa's boss, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Baiba Bāne, is better paid. She is allowed to combine the post of State Secretary with that of a member of the Board of Freeport of Riga and to be remunerated for it.
Accordingly, Bāne's declarations as a public official allow us to calculate that her public service has allowed her to earn:
€102,000 in 2021,
€102,000 in 2020,
€106,000 in 2019,
106,000 in 2018,
€108,000 in 2017,
€102,000 in 2016,
€115,000 in 2015,
€89,000 in 2014.
So, since 2014, when Bāne became State Secretary of the MoF and member of the Board of the Freeport of Riga, she has received a total of €830,000 in remuneration for her public service.
Just a little more and she'll have earned a million!
Armands Eberhards, Deputy State Secretary for EU Structural Funds at the Ministry of Finance, has been allowed to combine this post with the position of member of the Supervisory Board of JSC Augstsprieguma Tīkls from 2020, and previously also with the position of member of the Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank.
These positions have allowed him to receive a total remuneration of €106,000 in 2021, €106,000 in 2020, around €85,000 in 2019, around €85,000 in 2018 and around €70,000 in 2017.
Jolanta Plūme has been Deputy State Secretary for Budget at the MoF since 2014. She is allowed to combine this post with her position at Liepāja SEZ, and last year also with her position at Valsts Nekustamie Īpašumi.
Plūme's remuneration for her public service has been: €112,000 in 2021, €104,000 in 2020, €98,000 in 2019, €97,000 in 2018, €97,000 in 2017 and €80,000 in 2016.
The Deputy State Secretaries of the MoF are also Jana Salmiņa (for tax administration and combating the shadow economy) and Ilmārs Šņucins (for tax, customs and accounting). Their remuneration is - comparatively speaking - more modest, although still clearly competitive. They earn around €60,000-70,000 per year (€5,000-5,800 per month).
State Secretaries and Deputy State Secretaries in other "rich" ministries also earn around €70,000 a year. This is the annual salary of Ilonda Stepanova, State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, her deputies Dins Merirands, Ligita Austrupe, Uldis Reimanis, Edmunds Valantis, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics and others.
It is likely that this salary alone will not earn a million.
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