Rigging tenders in Latvia: "Jauna VIENOTĪBA" politician Tatjana Kairisa siphoned €500k in public funds
Tatjana Kairiša, who oversees two municipal service centers in Balvi Municipality, has acquired a controlling stake in SIA AVK Group, becoming the company’s majority shareholder.
According to sources from Kompromat.lv, immediately following the arrest of her husband and son in a drug-related case, Kairiša urgently went on long-term medical leave. The goal is to minimize information leaks and exert strict control over the situation from outside the detention facility.
Tatjana Kairiša, head of two municipal service centers in the Balvi Municipality, has become the majority shareholder of SIA AVK Group.
Data from Crediweb.lv indicates that the ownership structure of SIA AVK Group was completely overhauled within a matter of days. On May 28, a controlling interest in the company (51.21951% of the share capital) was transferred from the incarcerated Aivars Kairiša to his wife, Tatjana Kairiša. By June 3, Aivars Kairiša had completely stepped down from the company’s management. Tatjana Kairiša is now registered as the sole board member with the right of sole representation and as the company’s official beneficial owner (patiesā labuma guvēja).
It is worth noting that T. Kairiša is a politician who ran in the 2025 municipal elections representing the ruling party, Jaunā VIENOTĪBA.
The Anatomy of Tenders: Artificial Splitting
Kompromat.lv analyzed public data from the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (IUB) and identified a significant pattern in the operations of AVK Group. Instead of submitting a single large project for the modernization of the woodworking complex—which would have inevitably attracted the attention of regulatory bodies—project consultant Intars Zaharevičs split the project into four isolated lots. All of them were skillfully kept within the "below EU threshold" (Zem ES sliekšņa) legal category, which allowed for the tenders to be conducted through a simplified and maximally non-transparent scheme.
This systematic series of budget appropriation began in August 2022 with the procurement of a logging forwarder worth 190,500 EUR, where the winner was SIA Haitek Latvia. Following this, in December 2022, a contract was concluded for the supply of an industrial wood drying kiln worth 181,100 EUR from the Italian plant SECAL s.r.l. In May 2023, a procurement for a heating boiler worth 108,555 EUR from the Jelgava firm Anna Assistance was processed for that same kiln. The final chord of this investigated scheme occurred in November 2023 with the supply of construction materials for the erection of a finished goods warehouse worth 80,374.50 EUR from SIA PB Telpa.
The total volume of funds appropriated within the framework of this technological "series" amounted to 560,529.50 EUR.
Head of Investigations
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
