Latvenergo Council after Latvian Television program “De facto” storyline about Butterfly Bath talks, together with the scandalous businessman Māris Martinsons, the Chairman of the Board of Latvenergo Āris Žīgurs and the then member of the Board Māris Kuņickis also participated, launched an audit for the group’s purchases since 2015. The test will assess whether there has been undue favoritism against Martinson. The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) found no evidence of bribery in procurement, but the investigation was launched three years after the talks in Butterflies. –
IN SHORT:
- The Council of Latvenergo has been auditing the Group’s procurements since 2015. of.
- The task of the audit is also to check whether Māris Martinson has not been treated favorably in recent years.
- The scope of the audit is broader than just procurement analysis – business ethics, procedures and other issues of corporate practice are also considered.
- “De facto”: the connection of several Latvenergo Group procurement winners with Martinson can be seen through his motorcycle club “MX Moduls”.
- In the annual reports of the association, several suppliers of Latvenergo or Sadales tīkls appear among the donors of the club.
The LTV program “De facto” allows that the threshold of reasonable doubts for Latvenergo auditors to establish suspicious coincidences could be lower than it was in the criminal proceedings. Martinson’s interest in procurement could also be explored more broadly, not limited to firms directly related to the entrepreneur or his family.
The task of the internal audit and external specialists subordinated to the Supervisory Board of Latvenergo will be to check information on the procurements and other transactions performed by the Group in previous years. Also, whether “there has been no favorable treatment of individual operators in recent years”.
By “individual entrepreneurs” is meant Māris Martinsons, with whom Žīgurs and Kunickis spoke five years ago in the Butterfly Bath about both procurements and candidates for positions in the Latvenergo Group. The meeting planned by Martinson in Italy with the then Minister of Economics Dan Reizniece-Ozola (ZZS), who, according to Žīgurs, needs to “boldly”, was also discussed. However, the KNAB did not confirm that the meeting had taken place in Italy. The KNAB also did not find that Martinson had obtained the appointment or favor of any officials in the procurements and terminated the criminal proceedings.
The Latvenergo Council found out about this criminal case from Žīgurs only a few days before the story.
“We want to find out whether the activities that took place in 2015 and after have harmed the company’s interests. (..) I think that after checking to the extent that we will be able to disclose to the public, we will certainly make it known. Because it is undoubtedly very important to maintain good relations with our owners, customers and investors, ”says Ivars Golsts, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Latvenergo.
Āris Žīgurs, who has been on leave for a probationary period, told De facto that he had met Martinson in 2010 shortly after becoming the head of Latvenergo. He appeared as an energy builder, as an entrepreneur in the context of some problems in the “Distribution Network” projects, construction projects. Really came. Well, that’s all, ”Žīgurs said about Martinson.
A study of publicly available information on Distribution Network procurement shows that in 2010 there were no companies officially affiliated with Martinson or his family. His name is not found among the owners or officials of the winning companies.
So why did Martinson have to come and talk to Latvenergo’s management about “any problems in construction projects”? At the moment, you can only speculate about that. However, it is worth recalling that KNAB Martinson was detained a year ago in the framework of the so-called builders’ cartel criminal case. The Competition Council also wanted to receive explanations from him in the case of violation of the cartel, but Martinson refused to speak. In August, a fine of 1,200 euros was imposed on the entrepreneur for this, as well as a legal obligation to come and still provide explanations. Martinson has appealed this decision of the Competition Council to the Regional Administrative Court.
The KNAB’s decision to terminate the criminal proceedings against Āri Žīgurs and Māris Kunickis for negotiations at the Butterfly Bath mentions:
This means that the task given by the Latvenergo Council to the auditors could be quite difficult to perform. Chairman of the Council Ivars Golsts “De facto” pointed out that the scope of the audit will be wider than just procurement analysis – business ethics, procedures and other corporate practice issues will also be considered.
De facto was convinced that the connection of several of Latvenergo Group’s procurement winners with Martinson can be seen through the motorcycle club MX Moduls, of which he is the chairman of the board.
In the annual reports of the association, several suppliers of Latvenergo or Sadales tīkls appear among the donors of the club. Examples are the companies “Latvijas Energoceltnieks”, “Energokomplekss”, “Energoremonts Rīga”. SIA “Industry Service Partner”, whose co-owner Andrejs Visockis represents the company indirectly owned by Martinsons’ son Mārcis, on the council of Riga International Bus Station
This week, “De facto” managed to get more comments from the third participant of the Butterfly Bath, Māra Kuņicka.
He still does not comment on the KNAB decision, because he does not know whether the document is authentic. Asked about informal communication with Latvenergo’s major suppliers about the Group’s intended purchases, Kunickis points out that all the top managers in the energy sector in Latvia know each other.
During my career in energy in Latvia, I think I have met with the representatives of most companies working in this narrow sector, both in work-related matters related to my job at Latvenergo and my duties as a board member of the Latvian Association of Energy and Energy Builders. . And given the specific niche of this sector, a large part of my study time peers, friends and acquaintances work, as a miracle, in this industry! So it’s hard to imagine that I couldn’t meet any of them in private, just to talk about ordinary household things! Of course, I have always separated meetings related to work issues from ordinary daily conversation, ”said Kunickickis, a former member of the Board of Latvenergo.
Guntis Stafeckis, who Martinsons had called a loyal candidate in the Butterfly Bath, is also expressing his opinion.
The former member of the board of Latvenergo says that although he knew Martinson since the end of the 1990s, Latvenergo had neither met nor talked to him at the time. In the autumn of 2015, Stafeckis applied for the board of Latvenergo on his own initiative, voluntarily, after reading the announcement of the Ministry of Economics. Stafeckis did not know why he was talked about in Butterflies, nor did he ask the participants about it after the “De facto” plot.
“I have a certain reputation in energy construction. You can ask other business leaders. I am a fair, honest person who understands the essence of the matter in terms of meaning, not in terms of some spheres of influence. So I don’t have a reason to look for a lobby or a defense, or, as you said there, to swear allegiance to some of the employees or people there, or something like that … Well, that would be … It’s not for me necessary, ”says Stafeckis, who is not currently involved in energy. In August, he was confirmed as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Latvian Railway subsidiary LDz Ritošā sastāva serviss.
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