On behalf of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the State Police of Latvia carried out searches today, 26 April 2023, in 10 locations, and arrested eight suspects, in an investigation into a €2.5 million fraud involving agricultural funds.
The searches were carried out in the premises of companies and residences of the suspects under investigation, located in three municipalities of the Zemgale region (Latvia), and were executed by the State Police of Latvia – 2nd Division of the Economic Crime Combating Department of the Main Criminal Police Department (Valsts policijas Galvenās kriminālpolicijas pārvaldes Ekonomisko noziegumu apkarošanas pārvaldes 2.nodaļa).
At stake is a probe into fraud involving EU funds for rural development, amounting to €2.5 million.
The investigation established that, within the framework of four projects to build new infrastructure for companies, supervised by the Rural Support Service of the Republic of Latvia, multiple fictitious procurement procedures were organised. According to the evidence, the fictitious bids were prepared beforehand, together with the representative of the construction company that won the contracts.
The pre-trial investigation established that there was a vertical agreement (cartel) between that construction company and the four contracting authorities that organised the procedures, in order to insure that the projects would be granted to the predetermined company.
The timely investigation, carried out jointly by the EPPO and the State Police of Latvia, prevented the disbursement of funds amounting to €2.5 million to the suspected fraudulent projects.
In addition, one of the contracting authorities had already submitted a loan application for private co-financing of approximately €1.5 million. Thanks to the investigation, the interests of credit institutions and guarantors, who were unaware of the suspected illegalities, were also safeguarded.
During the searches, the State Police of Latvia also seized illegal firearms and ammunition.
Besides the eight detentions, a proposal to arrest the representative of the construction company that won the procurement procedures was also submitted to court.