Oligarch Kirov Lipman became owner of three large Latvian corporations thanks to Privatization Minister Janis Naglis: Liepajas Metalurgs, Grindeks, Kalcheks. The privatizations were full of scandals. Shares were transferred through shell companies “owned” by people who did not even know they were owners. Shares were transferred to Naglis. And, funding from Parex Bank was mysteriously guaranteed by Parliament. Sadly, nobody was prosecuted.
Lipman is linked to the KGB through his involvement with the hockey team “Dinamo Riga” which is backed by Gazprom.
Liepajas Metalurgs has been losing money recently. According to Polish investigative journalists, this is because 32% of output is supposedly sold in Poland however only 1/60 of that amount is actually received in Poland. In other words, 59/60 of those exports are disappearing.
Will Latvia investigate? No! In a repeat of 2008 when 1,300,000,000 euros disappeared from Parex (Oligarchs Kargin and Krasovitsky) and 2011 when 83,000,000 euros disappeared from Air Baltic (Oligarch Slesers), the government decided not to investigate and instead to bail out creditors. Liepajas Metalurgs’ creditor UniCredit is receiving 67,465,000 euros of taxpayer money.
Where is all this money going? To the Oligarchs? To the Parliament? To the Prosecutors?
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/markets_and_companies/?doc=72966
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