Riga, May 27 (LETA) - The Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) on Tuesday decided to launch an investigation into the Riga municipality's EUR 53 million school catering procurement, LETA learned.

TV3 analytical news program Neka Personiga (Nothing Personal) reported on Sunday that the winner of the recent tender was determined by chance, as the EUR 53 million were divided in a lottery, with a Lithuanian company winning the lottery. The municipality claims that all the bids were equally good, which is why the lottery was used as an exception.

Seven bidders competed in the tender. The tender rules allowed for alliances of companies, so even companies unrelated to catering services qualified.

Unlike previous tenders, this one did not require the provision of high quality products, nor did it look in depth into the tenderers' previous contracts or into the companies' beneficial owners. Because of the lower requirements, all participants scored the same, so a lottery, a rarely used method, was used to determine the winners.

The TV program explained that the company Aleks Un V, CNC had submitted its bid, drew nine schools in the lottery for a total of more than EUR 17 million.

According to Firmas.lv, Aleks Un V is owned equally by Anatolijs Polovnuks and Igors Bulatovs. The company CNC belongs to Aleks Un V and Concord Service Group, owned by Lithuanian citizen Irmantas Norkus.

Adazi regional council terminated the contract with this company for catering at the Carnikava Primary School last April. The municipality told TV3 that the company had failed to meet a number of requirements: it had not installed the equipment on time, it had not provided a proper menu, the origin of the food products supplied did not correspond to those specified in the tender, and the municipality had lost faith in the company's ability to fulfil its contractual obligations in good faith in the future.

Riga did not assess the tenderers' background in its procurement.

The results of the tender were appealed before the Procurement Supervision Bureau (IUB) by several firms that took part in the lottery - Fristar, Baltic Restaurants Latvia, Zaks 2.

The IUB has one month to examine the complaints.

Riga Mayor Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity) has asked the Riga executicve director to look into the case. Meanwhile, Vice-Mayor Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance/Latvian Association of Regions) has called on his party member Einars Cilinskis, the head of the anti-corruption committee, to convene a meeting to discuss the matter.

Cilinskis informed LETA that the meeting was scheduled for Thursday.

The Harmony faction of the Riga City Council has also requested explanations from both the IUB and the Riga executive director.