Millionaire Jūlijs Krūmiņš has become the elusive Joe* in the Lembergs trial

Police officers from the Saulkrasti police station should capture millionaire Jūlijs Krūmiņš and bring him to the Riga Regional Court for questioning in the Lembergs trial, the Riga Regional Court ruled on Monday.

On Monday, Krūmiņš was scheduled to be questioned in the Lembergs trial. As Krūmiņš did not appear in court, it was necessary to decide what to do next.

Given that Krūmiņš had been asked to be questioned by Aivars Lembergs, since the court of first instance had denied him this possibility, and that this had already been recognized as a fundamental violation of the right to a fair trial in the appeal instance, Judge Sandra Amola asked Lembergs what his opinion was on what to do.

When the state wants to, it can; when it doesn't, it can't

Lembergs explained to the court: "When my lawyers started questioning Jūlijs Krūmiņš in the court of first instance, he stopped testifying halfway through and left the courtroom, saying he was flying to Australia, and he avoided further invitations to appear in court. When he was arrested because he was detained by the KNAB, I asked the court of first instance to bring Krūmiņš into the courtroom and question him, because then he could not avoid being brought in any way. But the court did not consider my request, and therefore he was not questioned at first instance. The fact that he has evaded his duty to testify is beyond doubt. The fact that he is not in the courtroom today does not surprise me at all. ... When the KNAB needed to arrest Jūlijs Krūmiņš, the KNAB found him and took all the necessary procedural steps. As far as I have heard, there is also a trial going on right now, where the accused is Jūlijs Krūmiņš. When the state wants to find someone, it can find them; when it does not want to find them, it cannot find them. That is why I am not withdrawing my request for Jūlijs Krūmiņš to be questioned, because the state has every opportunity to ensure that Jūlijs Krūmiņš is in the courtroom. ... There are, after all, the possibility of contacting the KNAB and the lower court where Jūlijs Krūmiņš is being tried. They have all the up-to-date data [on his whereabouts]. We have prehistoric data in the case."

Agris Eglītis, the attorney-at-law representing the victim SIA Pars Terminal (former SIA Man-Tess, which was owned by Jūlijs Krūmiņš at the beginning of the criminal proceedings), also said that he had questions to ask Jūlijs Krūmiņš and that he should be brought to court under compulsion. There is no doubt that Krūmiņš' answers to these questions would help understand why Krūmiņš claims that some shares were extorted from SIA Man-Tess in 1995, whereas SIA Pars Terminal cannot find any evidence that the shares allegedly extorted belonged to SIA Man-Tess at all at that time.

Miraculously, even the prosecutor Aivis Zalužinskis agreed to bringing him to court under compulsion - during the first instance court proceedings, the prosecutors did everything possible to avoid Krūmiņš having to fulfil his criminal procedural obligation, repeating over and over again that giving the defense the opportunity to cross-examine Krūmiņš would be "delaying the criminal proceedings".

A test for Saulkrasti police officers' skills

After deliberating on what to do, the court decided: "... in the circumstances that the witness Jūlijs Krūmiņš is avoiding appearing at the hearing, thus obstructing the timely hearing of the case at the appellate court hearing,

the trial chamber finds that he should be brought to the next hearing under compulsion.

On the basis of the above, in accordance with Articles 250, 251 and 477 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the trial chamber decided to bring the witness Jūlijs Krūmiņš - residence address is indicated in the Annex to this Decision - forcibly to the court hearing on April 14, 2022, at 10:00 at Riga Regional Court, Riga, Abrenes iela 8. Execution of the Decision if given to the Saulkrasti Precinct of the Riga Regional Directorate of the State Police. The execution of the decision must be reported to Judge Amola not later than 30 minutes before the beginning of the court session."

Before, Jūlijs had a good laugh about the criminal procedural obligation

It should be recalled that the court of first instance also formally ruled that Jūlijs Krūmiņš should be brought to 8 Abrenes Street under compulsion. However, the police were unable to find him at his declared place of residence. Instead, he was easily found by journalists from Vakara Ziņas, whom he kindly showed around his new house in Sigulda. (See, for example, here).

Krūmiņš then wrote to the court that he was unable to appear "due to his advanced age and poor health". The yellow press, on the other hand, reported the opposite - that Krūmiņš smokes cigars for €2,500 a month, that at his age he has found new love again - "one last gust of love". Photographs of him at fine parties, at pinochle tournaments, on trips to exotic lands were regularly published; it was reported that he was once again forming a new political party (seemingly for the third time in his political career). The yellow press also appreciated that "Jūlijs Krūmiņš is still full of vitality and feels best in the company of young beauties", that he is "always in a good mood and lively" and so on.

However, he could not be brought to court to give evidence and this was actively supported by the prosecutors in the first instance court. It was also apparently supported by the court of first instance, because when Krūmiņš's whereabouts were clearly known, as he had been detained by the KNAB and placed in a temporary detention isolator, he was not required to be brought to give evidence. Instead, he was allowed to give scandalous interviews from the place of detention.

So today we will find out whether the Saulkrasti police will now be able to find Krūmiņš, and whether the court of appeal will manage to ensure that Krūmiņš fulfils his criminal procedural obligation. Especially since Krūmiņš is one of the initiators of the Lembergs criminal proceedings, about which he spoke quite passionately when he briefly testified in the court of first instance.

*The tale of the elusive Joe came to Europe in the early 20th century from the western regions of the USA. The essence of why he is called the elusive Joe is because nobody ever captures him, and they don't capture him because they don't even try to.

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