one employee of the State Chancellery was reprimanded

The State Audit Office believes that by using special flights even in cases when the state of emergency was not declared and when alternatives to regular commercial flights were available in a reasonable time, illegal behavior with state budget funds was allowed, which resulted in additional state budget expenses of at least 221,566 euros. On the other hand, according to the estimates of the State Audit Office, the allowed non-economic behavior caused additional expenses of at least 323,688 euros for the Council of the EU.

“Thus, the law on the prevention of wastage of financial resources and property of a public person has not been observed,” assesses the State Audit Office and notes that the financial audit also found violations of regulatory acts related to the organization of public procurement and accounting.

According to the State Audit Office, the information obtained during the audit shows that both the then Prime Minister Kariņš and the Prime Minister’s Office and the State Chancellery under his direct authority were actually involved in the decision-making and implementation of the use of special flights on foreign missions. At that time, the Prime Minister’s office was headed by the current member of the Saeima, Jānis Patmalnieks (JV), while the State Chancellery was headed by Citskovskis.

The State Chancellery, on the other hand, believes that the prime minister’s office should take responsibility for the flights of former prime minister Kariņš.

The State Chancellery emphasizes that the planning of the Prime Minister’s agenda, including business trips, is within the competence of the Prime Minister’s Office. Therefore, the Prime Minister, in consultation with the Office of the Prime Minister, makes a decision on when and with which transport to go on a business trip and return from it. The office of the Prime Minister contacted businessmen directly to order special flights. The special flights offered by businessmen for business trips have been selected and approved by the Office of the Prime Minister and only then informed the Director of the State Chancellery, Jānis Citskovski, about the chosen solution. Thus, information about the chosen mode of transport and its costs reached the Director of the State Chancellery only when the Prime Minister’s Office had already assumed the financial obligations, the State Chancellery emphasizes.