International action of anti-corruption services: CBA and KNAB. 6 persons detained in Poland and Latvia. In the background a bribe for 800,000 euros
This is a joint international investigation of the anti-corruption services of Poland and Latvia.
The CBA agents from Bialystok detained a member of the management board of the producer of municipal fleet vehicle near Poznań, and in Warsaw one of the company's commercial directors. The officers of the Latvian anti-corruption service KNAB detained 4 persons in Riga: among them a director responsible in the local public transport company Rigas Satiksme for tenders and people who helped to hide the 800,000 euro bribe.
The CBA findings indicate that the money was to be a payment, a financial benefit for arranging a contract for the delivery of nearly 200 buses and trolleybuses to Riga. The tenders were organized by Rigas Satiksme in 2013-2016.
According to the CBA agents from Białystok, those 800,000 euros, were to be "laundered" in tranches under the guise of payment for fictitious consulting services through a chain of subsidiaries from Latvia, Cyprus, Hong Kong and China before the money went to Riga.
Persons detained by CBA agents from Białystok will be transferred to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Poznań, where they will be charged with corruption and money laundering.
The detainees' offices were searched at the headquarters of the Polish company and places of residence of detained persons. A number of searches also took place in Latvia.
The case is ongoing.
Piotr Kaczorek, CBA