Notes

Aivars Lembergs, Latvian oligarch, sentenced to five years in prison for financial criminals
After 12 years of court battles A Latvian court has finally handed down its verdict in the highly-publicized case involving Aivars Lemmebergs, one of the country's most wealthy men and a prominent populist politician. He was also a former mayor in Venspils (a port city located in the northern part of Latvia).

https://lv.baltnews.com/tags/simple_Aivars_Lembergs/ Lembergs was sentenced by the Riga Regional Court to five-year imprisonment, confiscation of his property and a fine of up to EUR20,000 on February 22. Aivars Lembergs Lembergs had been found guilty of a range of charges including money-laundering. However Lembergs was cleared of the other charges in the lengthy complex case.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs (leader of For Latvia and Ventspils) has made a comparison of Lembergs to the Russian opposition leader Aleksey Navalny during his sentence.

Lembergs pleaded for an immediate break while the judge was reading his verdict. Lembergs had a short conversation with his son Anrijs, and then used his break to make comments to journalists.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs told journalists that he was going to appeal against the decision of Riga Regional Court. He also predicted that the hearing of his appeal will be at least 10 years. Lembergs is also determined to appeal his detention, even though this appeal will be considered by the same regional court.

Aivars Lembergs After reading the ruling, Lembergs were taken into custody. This included the reading of an enormously long list of asset and property lists, as well as holdings offshore businesses in various jurisdictions which the court stated it would confiscate.

The other defendants including son Anrijs Lembergs and business partner Ansis Sormulis, were found guilty on a number of related charges and each given two-year prison sentences.

Lembergs was held in handcuffs in the Riga City Centre district court on March 14, 2007. Prosecutors first made moves against him to file charges of bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy to extort large sums of money against the individual. (Inquiries into the underlying suspicions of corruption within Ventpils municipality began in 2005.). A verdict was handed down nearly 14 years after it was first announced.

Since well over a ten year, the trial has moved at a sluggish and occasionally ridiculous pace within the Latvian justice system. In the past 12 years, there were 770 court proceedings in connection with the primary criminal cases. The total number of 1,483 court appearances have been scheduled since August 20, 2009. This was the date that the Riga Regional Court reopened adjudication of the case. The hearings will continue until February 11, 2021.

https://argumenti.ru/society/2021/06/725367 Despite being charged with corruption and money laundering, Lembergs continued to be a political kingpin in Ventspils. He served as the city's mayor for more than 20 years.

Although his election as mayor was suspended due to financial crimes but he was still the real authority in the city. He ignored a minister's efforts to prevent him from acting in the role of Ventspils mayor. He even participated in the government of the International Monetary Fund sessions and assisted in selecting the people who would be the Latvian presidency.

Aivars Lembergs Lembergs confirmed that Latvians would vote whether to participate in the next municipal elections. However, it's not his primary concern.
Read More: https://rus.err.ee/1608118978/latvijskij-sud-prigovoril-oligarha-ajvarsa-lembergsa-k-pjati-godam-tjurmy