Ainārs Šlesers: The company of Bordāns/Jurašs is heating up the "oligarch" soup

"Everything will be determined by the election results. But the support of entrepreneurs is very strong for me at the moment, and people clearly see the absurdity of the existing power. For example, the transit industry. Most recently, Prime Minister Kariņš (JV) told the Saeima that the transit sector is a thing of the past, Latvia no longer needs it, it now needs to focus on smart production. Well, where is it then?! Apart from smart blathering, the government does not offer anything else,” says Ainārs Šlesers, a former politician, now a businessman. Today - an interview with Ainārs Šlesers, who might become a politician again.

Why did your intention to go into politics show up right now? Some watchers of politics believe this is because the prosecution has indicted you.

Let's start from the beginning.

In 2011, the KNAB performed a political show, as a result of which I was drawn into this process as a central figure. Juta Strīķe, the true head of the KNAB at that time, declared in all media that a lot of evidence had been collected against Šlesers and that all the people involved would be convicted. In June of the same year, an "oligarchs' cemetery festival" took place, so the court - albeit only in a public format - had taken place, pending a verdict. And so I waited for it five years, they dragged me around and questioned me about absurd things, about things that had never happened.

For instance?

For instance, the episode for which the KNAB asked the Saeima for permission to search my home was related to the fact that there had been a conversation in which a bribe was allegedly requested to elect Andris Ameriks as the Chairman of the Board of the Freeport of Riga.

But it was all fabricated. I said it right away, but the majority of the public did not believe it, because the KNAB considered that these facts should be verified. Yes, the conversation took place, but its topic was: how to advertise the ports of Riga, Ventspils, Liepāja? That's it, nothing else! In addition, this conversation took place when Ameriks had already been elected Chairman of the Board of the Freeport of Riga. How can one ask for a bribe to elect Ameriks if he was already elected?!

I told all this to MPs, and that was probably one of the reasons why they did not vote to search my home. Then came the Presidential Order No. 2: Edgars Rinkēvičs, then head of the President's Chancellery, wrote a speech for Zatlers while he was visiting Poland, which Zatlers only had to read out after returning from the visit. Saeima was dismissed. Zatlers' Reform Party was created - a formation to take power just because of power. Since then, I put politics aside, I focused on doing business.

But then a parliamentary committee of inquiry was set up in 2016: has the so-called oligarchs' case been closed illegally? The company of Strīķe/Jurašs/Bordāns started heating up the "oligarch" soup again... With its help, they entered the Saeima. Now that the ratings of the ruling parties are so low that sociologists no longer even publish data, politicians suddenly realize that they have failed during the pandemic, as evidenced by the dismissals of officials, all kinds of vaccination offices, and Covid advertising money that is sent to people close to parties. And right now the "oligarch" pot is brought out again as if to say, there is nothing else, let's go back to the tried and tested values!

Precisely because I no longer want to look at it all from the sidelines, I have decided to return to politics: we must not allow the country to be ruled by all sorts of former cops and enforcers - defenders of pseudo-justice Jurašs and Bordāns.

What was your conversation with the prosecutor's office like?

I realized that there was a fabricated case against me again. In 2006, when the Kalvītis government (I was not in government at the time) was in power, it was decided that digital television should be introduced. This was provided for in European directives. The government began to work. My party (LPP/LC) successfully started in the Saeima elections, and I became the Minister of Transport again. And the work that was started by the previous government continued. In 2008, the government approved the regulations for a procurement aimed at finding the best choice for the introduction of digital television. As a result of it, the company LATTELECOM was selected, of which 51% belongs to the Latvian state. There was no doubt that this was the right decision. And it was sent to the government for approval, which did just that.

But soon after, Godmanis government fell, and everything remained just "on paper". On March 12, 2009, the government of Valdis Dombrovskis took office, which started to introduce digital television. All the contracts relating to digital TV, which the prosecutor's office accuses me of, were made during the Dombrovskis government!

But the prosecutor's office believes that I controlled the Dombrovskis government, that there was some kind of conspiracy carried out by some group. Do you know what the prosecutor told me? That the government itself does not understand what it is deciding. One issue was raised as a matter of urgency, and that was illegal.

Sorry, but hundreds of issues are being addressed as a matter of urgency, and no one is saying it is illegal. The Ministries of Finance and Justice are the ones without whose decision no issue is put on the government's agenda. Two ministers, the Prime Minister and the State Chancellery - all checked that everything was correct. Now the prosecution tells me: no, this is nonsense, you have deceived everyone, so you are guilty!

I am sorry, but I do not want every Jurašs and Bondars to accumulate political points at my expense, the situation has matured, the current government is inadequate, 85% of the public does not understand what this government is doing and why it is making the decisions that it makes, therefore, I am ready to put aside everything I am doing and join in 7/24 so that after the next Saeima elections a strong government comes to power, which has a specific plan and consists of not some inexperienced losers, but professionals. I understand that by presenting me with some absurd accusations, a political campaign has begun, and I have accepted this challenge.

Are you sure you can find so many supporters and like-minded people to form a party and win the election?

Following my statement, I have received enormous support. People I haven't seen in years said they were ready to join the team. Experienced and young people write to me on Facebook that they want to support and join the team. Many entrepreneurs complain that the government has no one to talk to about business problems. I will try to attract people from all walks of life, people with experience, because now must come those who really care about our country. At one time, two parties were born on the basis of the "oligarch case" - the Zatlers Reform Party and the Bordāns/Strīķe/Jurašs party. The fact that the former leaders of the KNAB decided to go into politics is symptomatic: it cannot be ruled out that the current leadership of the prosecutor's office, which is currently supporting the fabricated process against me, plans to join the Bordāns party in the future.

I remember that you were once reproached for attracting the Irish airline Ryanair to Riga.

They even wanted to judge me for giving volume discounts. Because KNAB claimed that I had caused losses to Riga Airport. I tried to explain to the investigator that there are discounts everywhere in the business, and why shouldn't they also be at the airport? That is a loss, he argued. Okay, let's see what the result is - I said. Discounts were granted, thus increasing the number of passengers by 700%. That was during my ministry. I do not know of an industry that has experienced such growth in such a short time. Both airBaltic and Ryanair grew.

Yes, I could have gone to prison if my desire to develop the airport had failed, that is, if the airport had suffered losses. But everything came together, not only profits but also turnover began to grow, profits from stores increased. And when the KNAB claimed that losses had been made, I asked: have you looked at the numbers at all? No, we do not understand, says KNAB, how can it be - you give discounts, but profits are growing. And this episode of the "oligarch case" was judged for five years...

But about the LATTELECOM case and digital television, you were interrogated how many years ago?

The last time was eight years ago. And suddenly the prosecutor's office realized that there was some problem in connection with me. But I can't control LATTELECOM's work with private entrepreneurs. After all, there are the Ministry of Economics and Swedish entrepreneurs who control it. But I do know one thing: LATTELECOM went from a sinking company that operated ordinary telephones to a profitable company - thanks to the introduction of digital television.

Thanks to all the improvements, LATTELECOM's (now - Tet's) profit just last year was about 40 million euros, but in recent years - about 200 million euros. So now to talk about the huge losses suffered by this company is absurd. And to indict me for the fact that I have not been present either in concluding contracts or in their implementation - it is complete... Latvian lacks a word to describe this, but in Russian it is "bespredel".

Aldis Gobzems recently founded his own party. Do you see him as a competitor?

Let him gather new people who want to go into politics, let him form a team. But I will not form any cooperation with Gobzems, I will start with my party. My struggle will not be against the Saeima opposition, but against the existing power. The people of Unity (Vienotība) have been in power for 20 years, they have already gone flat - like a long-opened bottle of carbonated water. It is time to form a viable government in Latvia.

Do you see any opposition party with which a coalition could be formed?

Everything will be determined by the election results. But the support of entrepreneurs is very strong for me at the moment, and people clearly see the absurdity of the existing power. For example, the transit industry. Most recently, Prime Minister Kariņš (JV) told the Saeima that the transit sector is a thing of the past, Latvia no longer needs it, it now needs to focus on smart production. Well, where is it then?! Apart from smart blathering, the government does not offer anything else.

Latvijas dzelzceļš, which has always been profitable and subsidized passenger transport, has itself become a subsidized company. Last year, 45 million euros were given in grants. Will anyone answer for that? Of course not. In our country, you can sit idle, and by doing so tear down a huge company, and you won't have to answer for anything. But if someone does something - like Šlesers, for example - it is imperative to find a mistake that you can convict him of.

The government does nothing... No, not nothing. It gives 250 million euros to airBaltic and closes the airport. It is hard to imagine a greater absurdity. All airports in Europe are working! Riga Airport is a transit airport, but if only local passengers will fly, it will remain only as a small local airport. In my time, there were about a hundred flights from the Riga Airport that flew all over the world. Now it will be very difficult to recover transit passengers who have already forgotten about Riga Airport. After a year, there won't be anything left to save. I do not rule out that at the end of this year, Kariņš's government will have to give airBaltic another 250 million euros. And no one will have to answer for the lost half a billion euros.

Yes, state thinking is very popular. The government also intends to abolish the Liepāja Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

Minister of Transport Linkaits (JKP) is... I can't even put it in words. Half of Liepāja is a Special Economic Zone, and it is a success story. When I was the Minister of Transport, I said that we would support all three ports - Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja. I remember the mayor of Liepāja, Uldis Sesks, coming to me, and I promised money from the European Cohesion Fund for the deepening of the port and the construction of infrastructure.

The port of Liepāja began to develop, grain terminals were built, and much more. It was during the time of Uldis Sesks that various businesses developed in the Liepāja Special Economic Zone, and they are still developing, but the honorable Minister Linkaits wants to eliminate it all or give it away to who knows what! The JKP, with Bordāns at the forefront, has brought the entire transit industry to the brink, and someone will still have to take responsibility for it.

If you were to become Prime Minister tomorrow, what would be your first job?

First of all, I would replace all ministers. They will not be able to do any good in this term. A professional government is needed. The situation where officials are blamed for failures, but ministers are not responsible for anything, must end. If no vaccine is ordered, the official is to blame. But what is a politician responsible for? Secondly, technical matters in government would take no more than an hour. What is agreed at the meetings of state secretaries on Mondays is already being confirmed at the next government meeting. As Prime Minister, I would take full responsibility for the decisions taken during a pandemic, rather than delegating responsibility to an official.

But most importantly - economic growth. Every week, the Cabinet of Ministers would bring together the best entrepreneurs, representatives of industries, and we would talk about how to develop business and finance, how to attract resources to local business. I would start working towards the establishment of a national development bank. Local entrepreneurs often lack funding, and such a bank could offer them seed money, and enough of it. Support for national business is a priority. But for now, we are servants in our own country. So which are the largest companies owned by Latvia? Almost all belong to foreign countries.

It is time to revive the national business. There must come a government that will support local entrepreneurs, and that must be said out loud. Why didn't Riga Airport develop before me? Because the Scandinavians - SAS management - said: there is no need to develop Riga Airport! Just fly through Copenhagen and Stockholm! I said it would not happen because we are not the servants of any foreigners.

Once upon a time, it was stylish to travel to Moscow to kiss up to different people, but now you do it when traveling to Brussels. Now is the time when Latvians have to determine their own interests and not indulge other powers. Each country has to fight for its national interests, but Latvia has forgotten that. It is clear that the existing power in Latvia cannot do that! That needs to change!

I believe that Latvia can be a rich and developed country. Latvians must be masters in their country. I believe that there are many people in Latvia who think similarly and who have a vision for the development of the country, have the wisdom and courage to implement it. I want to unite these people.

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