Smiltene municipal officials linked to firm caught up in Ukrainian probe
Two Smiltene municipal employees once shared a company with Ukrainian businessman Bohdan Tomin, who is under investigation in Ukraine for tax fraud and cooperation with an aggressor state, TV3's programme “Nekā personīga” reports.
Two employees of the Smiltene municipality in Latvia have had a joint business with Ukrainian entrepreneur Bohdan Tomin, who is now the subject of criminal investigations in Ukraine over tax fraud. This was reported on 25 October by the investigative programme “Nekā personīga” on Latvia's TV3. The story concerns ties between local officials and a businessman whose operations Ukrainian authorities are examining.
A shared company in Smiltene
The limited company White Elephant was founded in Smiltene in 2021. It traded in cereals, sunflower oil and building materials. Its founders were Tomin; Matīss Mežulis, son of Ainārs Mežulis, a former Smiltene mayor and member of parliament who is now parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development; and businessman and current municipal councillor Dainis Aļeksējevs with his son Vairis. The firm was registered at an address where the Aļeksējevs family businesses are located.
What Ukraine is investigating
Ukraine's Security Service has opened a criminal case over Tomin's business, alleging cooperation with an aggressor state. Investigators believe several of his companies imported insulation boards from the Russian manufacturer Penoplex via Moldova, with payments going to accounts at Russia's Sberbank. A search took place in Lviv in November 2022. Court documents published this summer show that police in Ukraine's Chernihiv region are also investigating a group of nine companies over value-added tax fraud.
Aļeksējevs says an investigation has also been launched against him by Ukraine's prosecutors. Until the start of this year he shared a company in Ukraine with Tomin. This summer a man from Ukraine approached him with threats; Aļeksējevs believes the aim is extortion and is preparing a complaint about racketeering.
The situation in Latvia
In 2024 the company's building-materials warehouse in Ādaži burned down, and police are still investigating. A month after the fire the Aļeksējevs family transferred their shares to Tomin. Mežulis, now head of the Smiltene Sports Administration, remains a co-owner. He says no problems have arisen in Latvia and explains the joint venture was set up so a Latvian citizen would be involved. Ainārs Mežulis says he has known Tomin for many years.
The chairman of the municipal council, Ervīns Labanovskis, has received no information from state institutions. The Investment and Development Agency of Latvia says the company received no state support. Firmas.lv data show Tomin owns 79% and Mežulis 21%; the 2025 turnover was 1.26 million euros.
