Former army food warehouse head given probation supervision for fraud

On 5 November, the Riga Regional Court imposed probation supervision of almost four years on Inga Kaminska, a former official of Latvia's National Armed Forces (NBS). She was convicted of abuse of official position, document forgery and fraud linked to army food procurement. The first-instance court had sentenced her to four years in prison. The court also ordered the confiscation of her car.

Time spent in detention is counted toward the probation period, so the actual term to be served is three years and 11 months. The ruling can be appealed in cassation within ten working days. The full decision is due to be available on 24 November.

Appeal proceedings

Kaminska and her defence lawyer, sworn advocate Līga Cīrule, had appealed the Riga District Court's verdict. They asked for the four-year prison term and one year of probation supervision to be overturned and for a sentence not involving actual imprisonment.

Publicly available information indicates Kaminska was head of the food warehouse in the food supply group of the supply company at the NBS Support Command's third regional support centre.

How the scheme worked

According to a prosecutors' statement, between 15 March 2022 and 1 March 2023 the official, when ordering food from one company, told its representatives which goods and quantities should actually be delivered to the NBS. She also indicated which items should not be delivered but still be listed in delivery notes as supplied. The company is SIA Lanekss, a long-standing army food supplier, which has already been punished in a separate case.

Kaminska and two private individuals, whose case was separated into different proceedings, were also accused of forging 169 delivery notes. Kaminska submitted them to NBS accounting for payment. As a result, 113,519 euros were defrauded and transferred to the company's bank account.

Others involved

In late 2024, plea agreements were reached with the two individuals and a company representative. Both company employees received suspended three-year prison terms and a fine of 49,000 euros. Lanekss was given a coercive measure of 101,500 euros. The two individuals also paid the NBS 100,658 euros in compensation for material damage.

According to Firmas.lv, Lanekss was founded in 2001 and has share capital of 2,840 euros. It is owned by Ņina Siliņa. Last year it had a turnover of 5.62 million euros and a profit of 0.89 million euros.