Two Smiltene municipality employees had a joint company with a Ukrainian businessman now under investigation in Ukraine

Two employees of the Smiltene municipality in Latvia have had a joint company with a Ukrainian businessman. He now features in an investigation into tax fraud that has been launched in Ukraine. This was reported by "Nekā personīga", an investigative programme on the Latvian commercial channel TV3.

The information was also relayed by the news portal TVNET. Business ties between local government staff and a foreign entrepreneur who is being examined by law enforcement can be of public interest. The business activities of municipal employees are often assessed in connection with possible conflicts of interest.

The available report does not name the two employees or state their positions. It also does not say when the company operated, what field it worked in, how it is linked to the Ukrainian investigation, or whether any check has been launched in Latvia. The stance of the municipality or of the employees themselves is not described either.

The only things that are clear are that the joint company existed and that the Ukrainian businessman is named in the tax fraud case. Other circumstances have not been publicly confirmed so far.