The court does not find “Skinest Rail” responsible in the criminal case for giving 500,000 euros to Magoni

On March 26, the Vidzeme District Court in Cēsis ended the process of applying a coercive measure to the Estonian company AS “Skinest Rail” in the case of giving 500,000 euros to the former manager of VAS “Latvijas dzelzceļš” (LDz) Uģis Magonis, the court confirms.

The court concluded that in 2015, the company “Skinest Rail” was the only applicant in the procurement organized by SIA “LDZ ritošā sasvatsa serviss” for the purchase of four “2TE116” series used diesel locomotives. “LDZ rolling stock service” was interested in buying these locomotives, and there was no other company that could supply them, which was confirmed by all the witnesses in the case.

The court concluded that the sale price of four “2TE116” series used diesel locomotives corresponded to their market value or was even lower. The conditions set by “LDZ rolling stock service” did not give grounds to assume that “Skinest Rail” could obtain a large profit from the mentioned transaction, which would significantly exceed the amount of money indicated in the indictment, the receipt of which is incriminated to Magonim. Therefore, any connection between the funds received by Magonis and the interests of the company “Skinest Rail” was not confirmed.

Thus, no explanation was found why, in the given situation, there was a need to promise Magonim a material benefit in order to ensure that “Skinest Rail” would have the opportunity to sell four “2TE116” series used diesel locomotives to the Latvian company. In addition, in the opinion of the court, it has not been proven that any of the officials of the company “Skinest Rail” had a reason to assume that any of the officials of “Latvijas dzeĹĄsas” will put obstacles to the conclusion of the transaction and therefore the decisive vote of the president of “Latvijas dĺzceļas” will be needed. Consequently, the case did not establish the responsibility of “Skinest Rail”, and the court of first instance did not agree with the accusations of the General Prosecutor’s Office against this company.

The decision of the court of first instance can still be appealed to the court of appeal.

It has already been reported that on January 21, 2021, the Vidzeme district court in Limbaži acquitted Magoni and Estonian businessman Oleg Osinovski, who were accused of bribery, recognizing the charges brought against them as unfounded.

The judgment was appealed and is now being considered by the Riga Regional Court.

The basis of the indictment against Magonis was a set of two actions, that is, the prosecutor’s office believed that money was transferred to him in the summer of 2015 in order to facilitate the purchase of four diesel locomotives by “LDz” subsidiary company “LDz Ritošā sasuta serviss” from AS “Skinest Rail” owned by businessman Osinovskis.

Also, the prosecutor’s office believes that Magonis promised to meet with the then president of “Russian Railways” Vladimir Yakunin and to achieve a favorable decision in the interests of Osinovskis, namely that the Russian locomotives be repaired at the Daugavpils factory. The total amount of the bribe was about half a million euros, the prosecutor’s office believed.

Magoni was arrested by the Corruption Prevention and Combating Office on August 6, 2015.

In the court of first instance, the prosecution had asked the court to impose a four-year prison sentence on both defendants. The prosecutor’s office also demanded confiscation of property for Magon, depriving him of the right to hold board member positions in state and local capital companies for five years. On the other hand, Osinovski was not asked for any additional punishment.

Also, the prosecutor’s office asked to recognize 499,500 euros, which were confiscated when the two were detained, as criminally obtained property and to be confiscated for the benefit of the state.