RIGA, April 3 (LETA) - Jekabpils mayor Raivis Ragainis (Latvian Green Party; LZP) has been released from custody and will resume his office duties as head of the municipality after the Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) completed investigative procedures on Thursday.

Ragainis informed LETA that KNAB operatives arrived and searched his home on Thursday morning. After that, they took him along to Riga.

"I have provided KNAB all the information they requested. I am a person involved in the proceedings, but I have not been presented with any charges or bound by any restrictions. I am currently on my way to Jekabpils where I will resume my duties as chairman of the council," said Ragainis.

Ragainis said that the KNAB officers had treated him politely and responsively. He has no information about other detained municipality officials.

The Jekabpils mayor hopes that today's detention will not have a negative impact on the municipal elections. The Latvian Green Party has almost drawn up its electoral list for the municipal elections, which will be submitted to the Central Election Commission in the coming days.

Ragainis informed that the LZP will have an entirely new electoral list and include new people joining politics, mainly representing entrepreneurs. He admits that people are reluctant to get involved in politics, and that today's events are not increasing people's trust in the political environment.

On Thursday evening, it was reported that Aigars Nitiss (LZP), a member of the Jekabpils Municipality Council, had also been released from custody, his defense lawyer Juris Moculskis confirmed to LETA. He informed that the councilor had not been granted any status in the probe, but refrained from making further comments.

As reported, on behalf of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Riga (Latvia), KNAB carried out searches today and detained five suspects, including the mayor of Jekabpils, other public officials and representatives of private companies, in a probe into the construction of a EUR 16.9 million anti-flooding dam, co-funded by the EU.

According to the investigation, municipal officials may have committed, in collusion with representatives of private companies, illicit acts during the public procurement procedure for the construction of an infrastructure to prevent floods in the city of Jekabpils. The project involved the reconstruction of embankments along both banks of the Daugava River and building of anti-flood infrastructure, following massive floods in 2023 that severely damaged the existing protective structure. The project, worth over EUR 16.9 million, was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to up to 85 percent, with the remaining 15 percent funded by the State budget.

The suspects include the mayor, the deputy mayor and members of the municipal council of Jekabpils, as well as representatives from private companies. The public officials are believed to have manipulated the public call for tender, through abuse of their position, in order to put pre-selected construction companies in a privileged position in the public procurement procedure.

The EPPO also suspects that other provisions were violated, including the building regulations and technological requirements. Based on the evidence, building materials of insufficient quality may have been used and the materials for the construction may have been overpriced.

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Latvian courts of law.

The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.