Latvia’s Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development, Raimonds Čudars (New Unity), has expressed hope that last-minute changes to the developers of the election platform will still allow most of the IT systems used in previous elections to function during the upcoming Saeima elections.
In an interview with LTV’s Morning Panorama, Čudars stated that the contract with IT company RIX Technologies had been terminated in accordance with legal and contractual requirements, and that there are no significant risks of losing in court should the company decide to sue the state.
The government is expected to review an informative report prepared by the Ministry on improving the election platform ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for autumn. Čudars explained that the work is planned to be divided among three previously mentioned companies, each responsible for separate modules of the election system. Only Latvian citizens meeting security requirements will be involved in programming.
As previously reported by LETA, the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA) terminated its contract with RIX Technologies for the development of the election platform on a demand basis.
Accordingly,
the Ministry has proposed transferring the development of election systems to companies fully or partially owned by the state
—Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, Tet, and Latvijas valsts meži.
The Ministry stated that the contract with the platform developer was terminated because the company failed to fulfill its contractual obligations. At the time, RIX Technologies confirmed it had received notice of termination from the VDAA and would review the arguments before commenting further. It was later suggested that the company may pursue legal action against the state.
It has also been reported that, in a criminal case initiated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the State Police detained 21 individuals on suspicion of fraud in IT procurement projects worth 1.5 million euros, including public officials.
In this case, detention as a preventive measure was applied to now-suspended public procurement specialist Ainars Biders, former VDAA director Jorens Liopa, and Aigars Ceruss, owner and head of the “Corporate Solutions” group, who was later released from custody.
The criminal proceedings were initiated late last year
and have been classified under articles of the Criminal Law concerning large-scale fraud by an organized group and large-scale money laundering by an organized group.
According to information obtained during the investigation, an organized group allegedly entered into illegal secret agreements to predetermine the winners of public procurement tenders in at least six projects financed by the European Regional Development Fund, worth up to 1.5 million euros. There are suspicions that contracts were unlawfully secured with the assistance of public officials, while the illicit profits were distributed among those involved.
In a press release, the EPPO warned that the implementation of some of these projects could pose potential national security risks, as they may affect elections and democratic processes. Similar concerns about threats to democratic systems have also been expressed by several politicians, including Edgars Rinkēvičs.
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