Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has announced that after 18 months of investigations, it has decided to end criminal proceedings related to suspected violations in a large food procurement arrangement for the National Armed Forces, the LETA News Agency has learned.
The purpose of the probe was to determine whether corruptive practices were involved in the procurement that was organised by the State Centre for Defence Logistics and Procurement. The KNAB concluded that members of the procurement committee were insufficiently experienced and that there was insufficient supervision of the process by relevant authorities, and so a number of disciplinary offences were committed, but none of them involved corruption that would lead to criminal liability.
Initial information suggested that four persons – two members of the procurement panel, a representative of a company, and an advisor to the then minister of defence, may have committed violations in terms of ensuring that the food delivery supply contract would be awarded to one specific enterprise.
The KNAB investigation was launched on March 3, 2023. The agency conducted searches, interrogations, analysis and other actions. Information indicated that the procurement rules set out unreasonably low qualifications criteria for bidders and that the procurement committee repeatedly changed the rules and technical specifications, thus creating reason to suspect that the adjustments may have been made in the interests of a specific company.
Evidence obtained by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau shows that some of the things which members of the procurement committee did were disciplinary offences which the Ministry of Defence has already addressed. The bureau says that the problems were down to a lack of experience among members of the procurement committee when handling such a complex and large-scale procurement. Another problem was insufficient oversight by the Ministry of Defence.
Information obtained during the investigation does not suggest that the people who were being probed committed corruptive offences, that they were unduly influenced, or that they had an interest in awarding the contract to any particular bidder.
At the same time, however, the KNAB also notes that the sum of the contract was not paid and so the state suffered no financial losses. That is why the bureau decided earlier this week to bring an end to the criminal proceedings.
As has been reported in the past Zitari LZ, a catering company from Roja in western Latvia, was granted a EUR 220 million contract in 2023 on supplying food to the National Armed Forces for the next five years. Zitari won the tender with a bid that was given the maximum number of points.
Source: BNS
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