Double standards for the Pūce couple
The hasty resignation of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development Juris Pūce (For Latvia's Development party, Latvian: Latvijas attīstībai) is an attempt to save from disgrace a person who used the parking permit of Rīgas Satiksme. This person could be the director of the Secretariat of the Society Integration Fund (SIF) Zaiga Pūce - after analyzing the publicly available facts and hearing the testimony of witnesses, concludes Neatkarīgā.
Until now, the issue of who used the parking permit of Rīgas Satiksme and who is the person due to whom the Minister quickly resigned has not been raised in the public space.
The day after the statement of his former party member Mārtiņš Mičerevskis, that J. Pūce had asked him to arrange a permit, the Minister denied it on his Twitter account. J. Pūce pointed out that for two years since he has not been a deputy of the Riga City Council, he has not had a parking permit issued by the Riga City Council and he has not used it, nor has he tried to obtain one. However, in the late afternoon of the next day, J. Pūce announced that he was resigning from the post of minister, saying: “I have made a mistake. I am ashamed that I have done so in front of Latvian society and in front of my party members and party association. Also in front of friends and family. ... I sincerely apologize for my actions and deeply regret them. I have made a mistake regarding the parking lots of Riga municipality, I have really made a very regreful choice. I have misled my colleagues and the Latvian society.”
After such contradictory statements and the radical actions of the politician, questions arose for Neatkarīgā. Why does J. Pūce need a parking permit if the minister is transported by a ministry car with a driver? How was J. Pūce able to use a private car with a parking permit, parking it in Old Riga zone R and in Ģertrūde street’s zone C, if he often appeared in the Cabinet of Ministers at a government meeting at that time? They took place in person before the declaration of a state of emergency.
Who could have used J. Pūce's family car with a parking permit?
Already on November 11, when J. Pūce still denied trying to get the permit, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš indicated in his Twitter account: “It is necessary to clarify whether Minister Pūce or his relatives have obtained or used a Riga City Council parking permit, bypassing the procedures. I expect KNAB (Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau) to check it and inform the public about the results."
Competent observers confirmed to Neatkarīgā that the Pūce’s family car was often seen in the R zone near the intersection of Teātra and Vaļņu streets, as well as in the C zone in the section of Ģertrūdes street. A handsome lady parked the car there.
Although Raiņa Boulevard 15 is listed as the official address of SIF, until recently SIF structural units were located next to the place where the Pūce’s family car was parked - opposite the former entrance of the Riga Hotel (now Grand Hotel Kempinski), next to the entrance to the Valters un Rapa bookstore.
The SIF distributes money to non-governmental sector projects, as well as to the media that is in favor of the ruling coalition. For this year, the state allocated 10.6 million euros to SIF. The SIF code of ethics states, among other things: “A SIF employee must be self-critical, able to admit and correct their mistakes and apologize for their unethical behavior. SIF employees must be independent in their judgments, decisions and actions, and in the performance of their duties must be separated from personal interests and the interests of other persons, political, religious or social groups, not subject to public protests or fear of criticism. An employee of the SIF must act legally, and an employee of the SIF must not conceal or support the illegal actions of another person. The SIF employee must act fairly and maintain a high moral standing.”
As Neatkarīgā determined, checking who used the Pūce’s family car with the parking permit should not be a big problem. In Teātra and Vaļņu streets, as elsewhere in Riga, municipal police and private video surveillance cameras can be seen at every step. Not only KNAB, but also the Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis has the right to request the municipal police to provide information about the movements of the particular car and its driver.
With a relatively elementary check, it is possible to obtain clarity as to which officials have or have not gained unauthorized material benefits through the use of a parking permit. After finding out, it is possible to decide which charges fall on which official - criminal or administrative. However, the fundamental political consistency requires the suspension of suspected officials - in this case, the Director of the SIF Secretariat Z. Pūce. This is already a matter of integrity for the Prime Minister and the SIF Council. Among other things, according to the SIF Law “The Fund is under the institutional supervision of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister supervises the legality of the Fund's activities”.
It should be reminded that Z. Pūce became the director of the SIF secretariat on November 8 last year. According to the information available on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers, Z. Pūce has many years of experience in the sector of non-governmental organizations. Z. Pūce has been elected to the Cooperation Memorandum Council between NGOs and the Cabinet of Ministers, of which she has been the Deputy Head of the Memorandum Council for two years, a member of the Civic Alliance - Latvia since 2016, and a board member of the Contemporary Culture NGO Association since 2017. Z. Pūce has been the chairman of the board of the association Ascendum, and has worked in this position since 2011. At the end of 2013, J. Pūce was forced to leave the chair of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics. It turned out that Ascendum, led by Z. Pūce, has received donations from the construction company Re&Re.