State Revenue Service starts checking Kalviņš and Rivža's public official declarations
Latvia's State Revenue Service is checking the public official declarations of Kalviņš and Rivža, because they did not list posts at a Cayman Islands-registered pharmaceutical company. The company head's wife, Divya Vishwanath, recently had her Latvian citizenship granted and then voided.
Latvia's State Revenue Service (VID) has begun checking the public official declarations of Kalviņš and Rivža, according to Diena, which cites unofficial information said to be held by the news agency LETA. The check was launched because neither listed positions at "Zoar Limited", a pharmaceutical company registered in the Cayman Islands.
The company's website indicates that Kalviņš and Rivža serve on its advisory board. Zoar Limited was founded by Kanan Vishwanath, who is also its managing director. He has been a Latvian citizen since 2023. His wife is Divya Vishwanath, an Indian national.
Citizenship law annulled
On Thursday the Saeima, Latvia's parliament, used an urgent procedure to pass a law declaring void, with immediate effect, the law that lawmakers had adopted a week earlier to grant Latvian citizenship to Divya Vishwanath. The amendments were submitted by deputies of the party New Unity.
The Saeima's Citizenship, Migration and Social Cohesion Committee had earlier described her as an Indian citizen with a doctorate in computer science, whose work involves information technology, data science, artificial intelligence and pharmaceutical research. She has been linked to the Latvian Academy of Sciences (LZA) since 2019 and since 2024 has worked at the company Dr. Vishys as head of its artificial intelligence laboratory. The LZA leadership had supported granting her citizenship.
According to the "firmas.lv" database, the micro-company Dr. Vishys is owned by Kanan Vishwanath. Over the past couple of years it has had no turnover and has accumulated losses of more than 200,000 euros.
After the decision, doubts were raised publicly about her education, scientific publications and the grounds for granting citizenship. President Edgars Rinkēvičs urged parliament to address the doubts and, if necessary, review the law. Vishwanath has rejected the criticism, saying the documents submitted to the Saeima are genuine and have been checked.
