On Thursday, 20 June, Andris Kulbergs was elected chair of the parliamentary investigative committee on the implementation of the Rail Baltica project with Kristaps Krištopans elected secretary.

The Saeima today approved the composition of the parliamentary investigative committee to include Skaidrīte Ābrama, Artūrs Butāns, Atis Labucis, Amils Saļimovs and Gints Štekerhofs.

“The task of the investigative committee is to identify when and under whose responsibility the Rail Baltica high-speed train fundamentally derailed, so that we can put it back on the tracks. Otherwise, we risk a huge burden of debt. We need to understand how it could happen that the red lights did not go off sometime earlier, and how it comes that we have reached billions in debt. It is necessary to understand why the red bulbs did not light up in the company itself, the Ministry, the Cabinet of Ministers and also in the Parliament,” said Kulbergs, explaining the tasks of the investigative committee.

Kulbergs also notes that the public must receive precise answers to the main questions. “It is also necessary to get answers from those responsible – where will the tracks end up going, what is the scope of the project, where will we get the money, what is the planned funding, how much money has already been spent and how much is expected from the state budget. It is also important to acquire precise data on the amount of debt. Therefore, our main task is to extinguish this fire, find the perpetrators and bring them to justice according to the established procedures,” says the Chair of the investigative committee.

On 13 June, on the initiative of 34 MPs, the Saeima set up the Parliamentary Investigative Committee on ensuring parliamentary scrutiny of the Rail Baltica project in order to identify the mistakes made in the implementation of the project and to ensure that it becomes a priority issue for the government and that decisions are taken transparently, in a timely manner and taking into account the interests of the Latvian state and society as a whole, the impact on the Latvian economy and the state budget.

The Constitution stipulates that the Saeima must appoint a parliamentary investigative committee for a specific purpose, if requested by at least one third of the members of parliament.

According to the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima, a parliamentary investigative committee has the right, in accordance with the task assigned to it, to invite and hear any person, including a private individual, and, if necessary, to carry out audits in government, local government and private institutions and companies, if the private institutions and companies directly or indirectly receive State benefits, credits or orders, or participate in the privatisation of State or local government property.

Saeima Press Service