The German newspaper Bild has published an article damaging Latvia's reputation. North Korean billions are being laundered through our banks, the supervisory authorities are covering up a flood of dirty money from Russia, and the Minister of Justice and the head of the Legal Affairs Committee have both been paid a 500,000 euros bribe to allow the PNB Bank to be robbed.
Although the minister and the MP are not named in the publication, the time when the events described unfold refer to the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Latvia, Jānis Bordāns, the Member of the Saeima, Juris Jurašs, and the Prime Minister, Krišjānis Kariņš, to whom the cover-up at the highest level of public administration and banking supervision was allegedly reported.
Read journalist Imants Vīksne's article here.
The German tabloid Bild focuses on photos, trying to make them as expressive as possible, but cares little about the quality of the content - it tends to be utterly rubbish and all sorts of nonsense is published. The article on Latvia is misleading, recounting events in our country that are several years old as if they had just happened and it had not already become clear in the meantime that the original information was untrue. This is the case, for example, with the financing of North Korea's nuclear programs by Latvian commercial banks, which, as it has turned out, is an allegation without any real basis. The Bild article is also full of all sorts of inaccuracies and misinformation, which shows that the author has very little knowledge of the country he is writing about and it's doubtful that he has ever even been to Latvia. But this is nothing new either - arrogant and very sloppy Western journalists tend to write horror stories about Latvia. This is especially true of the yellow press, which is interested in attracting the attention of the public by any means possible.
At the same time, the publication of Bild should not be underestimated - it has a circulation of million copies and many more readers on the Internet. The Latvian authorities should hardly pretend that nothing has happened. For such a publication seriously damages Latvia's reputation - millions in Germany and other German-speaking countries have read that Latvia is a criminal horror pit where the authorities cover up bank robberies and do nothing but take bribes. The victims of the "bank robbery" allegedly organized by the Latvian State are not some unimportant people, but the former head of the German Federal Intelligence Service, BND, August Hanning, and the former NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Jānis Bordāns and Juris Jurašs should be particularly worried about such a publication because their reputations are being heavily damaged. Although they are not named, it is clear who they are.
Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš is also shrouded in a bad shadow because under his rule these alleged criminal acts have taken place.
It would be logical here to demand a retraction from Bild, the chance to post a rebuttal, an explanation, or to seek damages for defamation, or whatever it is called in German legal parlance.
The New Conservative Party (Jaunā konservatīvā partija, JKP) of Bordāns and Jurašs has constantly trumpeted "uncompromising justice". The Kariņš government has integrated uncompromising justice and the rule of law into its declaration. The new bearers of the new "uncompromising justice" have constantly emphasized to the Latvian people that high officials, judges and members of the judiciary must have impeccable reputations.
But what reputation do Bordāns and Jurašs have if allegations of a bribe of half a million euros are published in the largest Member State of the EU without a recall demand?
It appears that, in one case, if a local left-liberal media outlet publishes something compromising about a judge, it is immediately a bad reputation, as Bordāns and Jurašs believe. But if a German publication with a huge circulation writes about them, it can be ignored.
But if Latvian officials are not reacting, perhaps they have nothing to say to justify themselves? Then it would appear that Bild is telling the truth? Is it not the case that there is now more corruption in Latvia than there has ever been?
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