Aivars Lembergs jailed for five years for financial crimes
After 12 years of heated court wrangling, a Latvian court has finally read its verdict in the high-profile trial of Aivars Lembergs, one of the country’s richest men, an influential populist politician and a former mayor of Venspils, the port city in northwestern Latvia.
On February 22, the Riga Regional Court sentenced Lembergs
to five years in prison, confiscation of property and a fine of €20,000 after
finding him guilty on a number of charges relating to bribery and
money-laundering, while acquitting him on some other charges in the complex and
long-running case.
Lembergs, who is leader of For Latvia and Ventspils party,
has compared his sentencing to the case of Russia's opposition activist Aleksey
Navalny.
As the judge was reading the verdict in his case, Lembergs
asked for a short break, which was granted to him. During that break, Lembergs
first had a brief conversation with his son and co-defendant Anrijs and then
used the rest of the time to give comments to journalists.
Lembergs told the journalists that he will appeal the ruling
of Riga Regional Court and predicted that the hearing of his appeal will take
another decade. Lembergs is also determined to appeal his detention, even
though this appeal will be heard by the same regional court.
The court decided to take Lembergs into custody immediately
after reading the judgment, which included the reading of an astonishingly long
list of properties and other assets, and holdings of offshore companies in
numerous jurisdictions which the court said it would confiscate.
His co-defendants, son Anrijs Lembergs and business
associate Ansis Sormulis, were also found guilty on a number of linked charges
and were each handed two-year sentences.
On 14 March 2007 there was a media furore when, locked in
handcuffs, Lembergs was taken to the Riga City Centre District Court, as
prosecutors made their first moves to line up charges of bribery and money
laundering on a huge scale against him as an individual (investigations into
linked suspicions of corruption in Ventpils municipality had started in 2005).
Now, nearly 14 years later, a verdict has been reached.
For well over a decade, the case has been making its way at
a sometimes farcically slow pace through the Latvian legal system. In total,
770 court hearings have taken place in connection with the main criminal
proceedings over 12 years. Since August 20, 2009, when the Riga Regional Court
resumed adjudication of the case, until February 11, 2021, a total of 1,483
court hearings have been scheduled.
Despite being on trial on charges of bribery, and money
laundering on a large scale, Lembergs has continued to act as a political
kingpin, both in the city of Ventspils, where he was mayor for two decades, and
as a key influence within the Greens and Farmers Alliance political force which
he funds.
His election as mayor was suspended after he was charged
with financial crimes but he continued to be the real power in the city,
batting away one minister's efforts to stop him acting as Ventspils mayor with
little problem. He even took part in government meetings with the International
Monetary Fund, and helped choose candidates for the Latvian presidency while
indicted.
As for Latvia's upcoming municipal elections, Lembergs said
that the decision on participation in these elections will be taken by his
regional party For Latvia and Ventspils, but that his possible participation in
the elections is currently not his main priority.
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