The State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ģirts Krūmiņš, who in recent years has been the ministry’s representative as a shareholder in Latvijas Valsts meži (LVM), has been let go from the post. On the LTV programme “De Facto,” aired on 1st March, Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze (ZZS) cited a possible conflict of interest as one of the reasons for this decision.
Ministry State Secretary Krūmiņš confirmed over the weekend that he has not been a representative of LVM’s shareholders since January 30th. “You will have to ask the minister himself why he issued such an order,” replied the state secretary in writing.
Krauze explained that the ministry had returned to the previous arrangement whereby LVM shareholders are represented by a forestry professional with the appropriate education. The new shareholder representative is Āris Jansons, director of the Forestry Department.
Unofficial information suggests that the order was justified by the need to prevent a possible conflict of interest in decision-making.
Krauze confirms this in his written response: “Possible [conflicts of interest], because journalists recently drew attention to the fact that the childhood friend of ZM State Secretary Ģirts Krūmiņš, with whom he still maintains close contact and travels abroad together, is the timber industry millionaire Ramoliņš. His company, Stiga RM, is a client of Latvijas Valsts meži (Latvian State Forests). Therefore, taking this fact into account and to avoid any doubt about possible conflicts of interest, the Ministry of Agriculture chose the historical order and a forestry professional, the director of the Forestry Department, as the representative of the shareholder.”
It should be noted that in recent months, dark clouds have been gathering over the Ministry of Agriculture. Currently, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Audit Office are assessing whether the reduction in the price of timber sold by LVM to several timber companies was lawful. At the end of 2023, the government decided on this step at the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture.
At the same time, the Competition Council has initiated a non-compliance case regarding long-term forestry contracts, which threatens LVM with fines amounting to millions.
These disputes pit the interests of several forestry companies against each other. Krauze has previously publicly accused timber producer Andris Ramoliņš of spreading false information. It is understood that Ramoliņš’s fierce competitor is businessman Uldis Mierkalns and his PATA group, which, judging by publicly available information, has benefited from several decisions made by ministries and LVM.
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