In the edition of July 5, 2010 of the newspaper Dienas Bizness, it is mentioned that last week the Financial Police Department of the State Revenue Service arrested a criminal group, which had implemented an extensive scheme of laundering, and the possible relation of the Joint Stock Company „Latvijas Gāze” (hereinafter – LG) to the scheme is under investigation. The article reveals that LG has co-operated with two of the construction companies involved in the scheme.

As one of the major taxpayers in Latvia and one of the highest rated companies in terms of social responsibility, LG fully denies the published rumours regarding the company’s involvement in any illegal affairs or laundering schemes. We also point out that there are no arguments as to why the company’s relation to illegitimacies is conceded. LG co-operates with many companies, including „SZMA Rīga” and „SZMA Būve”, which are referred to in the article and have fulfilled a number of orders for LG. These companies, just as other winners of procurements, are selected via tenders, whereas any purchases beyond the limit specified in the law „Procurement for the Needs of Public Service Providers” are conducted in co-operation with the Procurement Supervision Office.

We would like to remind that, despite LG being a private company, our operation and all procurements are subject to strict supervision. The internal regulations of the company stipulate that procurements are generally organized via tenders, while decision-making involves a number of people not only from the responsible procurement commissions, but also those engaged in the process of resolution. For instance, any purchase of complex and expensive technologies and/or performance of their reconstruction is supervised not only by LG, but also internationally known experts of gas industry.

If any information provided by LG can in any way be useful for the Financial Police of the State Revenue Service, we advise it to address the company so that, if needed, we deliver the information as soon as possible.

LG notes that, if there are illegitimacies in the internal financial operations of any of the contractors of LG, it does not indicate the involvement of LG therein. Moreover, LG cannot bear responsibility on all internal financial operations of its partners.

Vinsents Makaris
Phone + (371) 67 369 144
E-mail: IR@lg.lv