Brenčis Does Not Plan to Give Up His Mandate as a Member of the Saeima

Brenčis informed journalists that investigators arrived at his residence in the morning, conducted a search, seized several data storage devices and documents, after which he had a conversation with the prosecutor and investigator that lasted about an hour. The officials questioned him about a project in the Alūksne region, which was overseen by the Central Agency for Finance and Contracts (CAF). Brenčis stated that the investigators first conducted a search in his apartment for about two hours, then inspected his car, and later he was taken to the premises of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (CPCB). "During the hour-long conversation, I provided all the information I had at my disposal. Specific questions were asked about a specific project. I shared everything I could, and I hope that those responsible will be held accountable," said Brenčis. He emphasized that no charges have been brought against him and he is not a suspect in the case. He has been assigned the status of a person in respect of whom a criminal process has been initiated and who has the right to defense. No preventive measures have been applied to him, and after the procedural actions were completed, he was able to go home. According to him, the events being investigated are related to a project implemented about four years ago under the supervision of the CAF and have no connection to his family, his work in the Prime Minister's office, or his work on the board of the University of Latvia. Commenting on the issue of his parliamentary mandate, he said that he currently sees no reason to give it up. "I have done nothing illegal to give up my mandate as a member of the Saeima. I came into politics to bring about change. I am a member of Kulbergs' team and do not plan to give up my mandate because a significant part of society has expressed trust in me," said Brenčis. As reported, the CPCB conducted searches on Wednesday as part of an EPPO case regarding possible fraud in procurement and abuse of office related to the use of European Union (EU) funds in the implementation of a project in the Alūksne municipal government. At the same time, the CPCB conducted criminal procedural actions against the Prime Minister's advisor Andris Kulbergs (United List) Brenčis. The chairman of the Alūksne municipal council, Dzintars Adlers (New Unity), also confirmed that the CPCB conducted procedural actions in the municipality today. No municipal employees have been detained. "We provided the CPCB with all the requested documents related to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) project 'Development of Infrastructure Important for Entrepreneurship in Alūksne', as well as our phones," said Adlers. The EPPO reported that at the request of the prosecutor's office, the CPCB conducted searches and other activities as part of the investigation into possible procurement fraud and abuse of office involving officials of the Alūksne municipality. According to the prosecutor's office, municipal officials, together with representatives of city enterprises, may have participated in illegal activities aimed at obtaining more than 1.4 million euros from the ERDF for a project implemented by the municipality, thereby causing damage to the financial interests of both Latvia and the EU. The project involved the construction of three production facilities on the territory of the municipality to lease them to enterprises. According to the project implementation conditions, enterprises for the use of these facilities were to be selected through an open, transparent, and non-discriminatory auction. However, evidence obtained by the EPPO indicates that the suspects misled the responsible institutions and, violating the project implementation conditions, built production facilities for pre-selected enterprises. For his part, Adlers stated to the LETA agency that all new production facilities were leased following the auction results. "The municipality did everything in accordance with the existing rules. We did not violate anything; procedural actions are currently being conducted, as has already happened in other municipalities in Latvia," he noted. Publicly available information indicates that as part of the project 'Development of Infrastructure Important for Entrepreneurship in Alūksne', three production buildings were constructed in 2022 on Merkela Street, 20 in Alūksne and in Grantskalne and Zarini in the Jaunlaicene parish. The goal of the ERDF-supported project was to create suitable infrastructure for commercial activities in Alūksne and new jobs, attract non-financial investments, and revitalize abandoned areas. One of the biggest obstacles to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region is the lack of suitable production infrastructure. The project was developed based on the needs of local entrepreneurs, the municipality reported before its implementation. The EPPO did not provide further information, so the total number of individuals involved in the case is unknown. As reported, the criminal process was initiated by the EPPO on February 11 of this year based on information provided by the CPCB. The criminal process is related to criminal acts affecting the financial interests of the EU. Brenčis, who was elected to the 15th Saeima from the United List, previously held leadership positions in the CAF, which oversees the expenditure of EU funds. The EPPO is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to court cases of crimes against the financial interests of the EU. These include various types of fraud, VAT fraud if the amount of damage exceeds 10 million euros, money laundering, corruption, and others.