Lawyer charged over obtaining free disposal of asbestos slate in Dobele by deception
Prosecutors have sent to court a case against a sworn lawyer accused of deceptively obtaining free disposal of 2.7 tonnes of asbestos-containing slate meant for storm victims in Dobele. The municipality lost 1,197 euros as a result.
The Latvian Prosecutor's Office has referred a criminal case to the Zemgale District Court against a sworn advocate accused of fraud. He allegedly used deception to gain the right to dispose of 2,720 kilograms of asbestos-containing slate roofing sheets free of charge, causing the Dobele Municipality a financial loss of 1,197 euros. The prosecutor's office provided the information to the news agency LETA.
What happened
After a storm in August 2023 tore roofs off and damaged buildings in Dobele Municipality, the local authority offered residents free disposal of construction waste and slate. The aim was to support those affected and speed up the clean-up.
The accused arrived at a waste sorting site in Dobele in September 2023. According to prosecutors, he did not live in the municipality and owned no property there that had been damaged by the storm. To avoid paying for the slate's disposal, he allegedly deliberately misled the person in charge at the site, giving false information about the origin of the slate on the storm-recovery waste collection form. This gave him the right to dispose of it free of charge, and he did not pay 1,197.90 euros.
Pre-trial proceedings
At the end of the pre-trial stage, the accused twice failed to appear at the prosecutor's office at the times set in summonses, in order to complete procedural steps, and gave no valid reasons for his absence. As the planned steps could not be carried out, the prosecutor decided to have him brought in by force.
Information in the court calendar indicates that the accused is Pēteris Kušners. The first hearing in the case is scheduled at the Zemgale District Court in Dobele on 9 November at 1 p.m.
