Court orders asset confiscation and payment in sturgeon caviar farm fraud case

The Riga City Court has ordered the confiscation of property belonging to the company SIA "Akva Systems" and the recovery of half a million euros for the state from two private individuals, in a fraud case involving a sturgeon caviar farm in Latvia's Krāslava municipality. Latvian Television (LTV) reported the news on Thursday. The ruling has not yet entered into force.

What the court decided

The hearing took place on 24 September. The court ordered the confiscation of company property worth 430,000 euros and the recovery of half a million euros from two private individuals. One of them is Saftar Rahimov, a citizen of Azerbaijan, whom the programme's journalists could not reach. Both defendants were also placed under probation supervision.

The full judgment will be available on 11 December, after which an appeal can be filed.

The scheme with fictitious procurements

According to LTV and the archives of the news agency LETA, in 2016 the sturgeon breeder "Akva Systems" decided to expand its business by setting up a fish roe processing workshop. It was a Fisheries Fund project worth 1,146,000 euros. To obtain public money, the businessman from Azerbaijan and a consultant used fictitious procurements and their own companies.

Nadežda Rozenbaha, assistant to a judge at the Riga City Court, told LTV that the company's board member and representative misled the Rural Support Service by knowingly submitting false information about the project's procurements and related tasks. In this way, European Union structural fund money was unlawfully claimed and received in the company's interests.

Custody of assets

LETA's archive shows that the government repeatedly decided to give Krāslava municipality funds to cover the costs of storing and guarding the arrested property of the caviar farm held in the criminal case. By a Riga City Court decision of 2 October 2023, the municipality was given custody of movable property worth 49,740 euros at the "Amina" property, movable property of the company worth 383,290 euros, and the fish farm "Amina - 2".