Lasmanis made such a decision because the deputies of Jelgava region have already “agreed on the creation of a new coalition and the election of a new mayor”.
Lasmanis announced his resignation about an hour before the meeting of the Jelgava County Council, which was supposed to consider the request of seven deputies to remove him from his position.
Some politicians and officials of the municipality demanded to evaluate Lasmanis’s actions, while directing the session in the Budget Commission, he addressed the feet of a woman.
The executive director of the municipality, Līga Lonerte (LZS), invited the members of the municipality to evaluate, in her opinion, the violation of ethics in the actions of the council chairman, by sending them a video from the commission’s March 13 meeting.
The executive director told the deputies that, in her opinion, significant violations can be seen in Lasmanis’ actions. She turned to the deputies after the alarm raised by the administration employees.
The request was signed by four deputies of the Latvian Farmers’ Union – deputy chairman of the city council Ilze Vītola, Lolita Duge, Juris Lavenieks and Juris Razživins, and three deputies elected from the list of the Association of Regions of Latvia – Dainis Liepiņš, Vidmants Rinkuns and Dina Tauriņa.
Lasmanis explains in the statement issued on Wednesday that he is resigning from the position of the head of the council “so as not to delay the election of the new head and the smooth work of the municipality”.
According to Lasmanis, the creation of the new coalition is based on the agreement on the reorganization of the central administration and administration of the municipality, which until now has been sabotaged by executive director Lonerte.
It was also decided to ensure the “legality of the activities of capital companies”, how to evaluate Lonerte’s suitability for the position. “These are essential prerequisites for the county’s future viability and successful development,” Lasmanis believes.
In the statement, the municipal politician also made new accusations against Lonerte, regarding which he “considers it his duty to inform the public” that Lonerte is suspected of a “possible criminal offense, in addition to what has already been reported about intentional, significant and systematic violations in the work of the executive director of the municipality, arbitrarily, violating the authority , dealing with public property and financial resources of the municipality”, that is why he allegedly turned to the State Police’s Department for Combating Economic Crimes, the Office for Prevention and Combating Corruption and the State Control.
Lasmanis believes that the concession contract of SIA “Zemgales sevyns centrs” was concluded illegally, it was not terminated intentionally and the capital shares belonging to the municipality were not taken over by the council, therefore he asked the investigative authorities to evaluate whether Lonerte’s actions “are related to the responsibility for the possible uncontrolled use of municipal funds and waste to a significant extent”, because the executive director of the municipality performs the duties of the representative of the holder of capital shares in capital companies in which the holder of capital shares is the municipality.
“Looking at it with today’s eyes, it was a mistake to end the service inspection of Lonerte’s activities in 2022 with the mildest possible disciplinary punishment – a note.
The action that followed from this person – intentional, conscious and purposeful obstruction of the work of the municipality, thus causing huge losses and balancing on the border of compliance with regulatory acts,” continued Lasmanis in his appeal to the executive director.
On the other hand, when assessing the responsibility for his own unethical behavior at the meeting of the local government’s Budget Commission, Lasmanis said that “good deeds are often not enough”.
“Of course, everyone must follow ethical standards in their actions. A person who works in a public position should not find himself in a situation that can be interpreted in different ways,” the regional politician admitted.
Lasmanis claimed that he had apologized to his direct colleagues in the municipality and party members, but with the public announcement he wanted to “also apologize to the residents of his district and the wider community, who felt uncomfortable or offended in any way due to the situation”.
At the same time, he promises to “make every effort to restore his tarnished reputation and regain trust.”
