On Monday, the Riga Regional Court found former chairman of the board of “Latvijas dzelzceļš” (Latvian Railways/LDz) Uģis Magonis and Estonian businessman Oļeg Ossinovski guilty of charges relating to bribery in another of Latvia’s very long-running, high-profile court cases.
The origins of the case go back more than a decade to 2015 and involved extraordinary allegations of bribery among businessmen and large amounts of cash being carried around. Magonis was suspected of accepting a €500,000 bribe from Estonian millionaire Oleg Ossinovski so that a Latvian Railways subsidiary would purchase four old locomotives for several million euros from Ossinovski’s company Skinest.
As one of the highest-profile businessmen in the country, who held a notoriously grandiose birthday party in his own honour at Rundāle Palace, Magonis’ fall from grace attracted a great deal of attention.
The case went to court in 2017, when both Magonis and Osinovsky were charged. Both denied their guilt. The prosecutor’s office asked the court to impose a 4-year prison sentence on both defendants.
It took until 2021 for the Vidzeme District Court to reach a verdict and acquit both defendants, but the prosecutor’s office filed an appeal against the verdict, sending the case back to the courts.
The Riga Regional Court Criminal Court Panel, examining the case within the limits of the appeal, found that the prosecutor’s accusation maintained in the appellate court was justified. The court concluded that Magonis accepted a large bribe given by Ossinovski.
The Court of Appeal sentenced Magonis to three years in prison and Ossinovski to two years and ten months. At the same time, the court found that the lengthy criminal proceedings did not respect both parties’ rights to the completion of the criminal proceedings within a reasonable time, as a result of which the court commuted Magonis’ prison sentence to two years and six months, while Ossinovski was given a fine of 151,700 euros instead of jail time.
The court also imposed an additional penalty on Magonis – confiscation of property including a Mercedes-Benz vehicle, as well as more than 800,000 euros in cash and three wristwatches. Ossinovski, on the other hand, was given a rather minor additional penalty – a ban on participating in future public procurements for three years.
The court also decided to confiscate the proceeds of crime – a bribe of 499,500 euros – which will be credited to the state budget.
But even this may not be the end of the matter – the judgment of the court of appeal may itself be appealed in cassation to the Supreme Court.
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