The Legal Commission of the Saeima does not support the idea that in the case of illegal financing of the party, criminal liability should be established for much smaller amounts than currently stipulated by the law. The changes to the Criminal Law were proposed by the Ministry of Justice, and today they were evaluated by the Saeima commission.
In the opinion of the Ministry of Justice, the changes would eliminate the receipt of dishonest funding for political parties, as the threshold for illegal funding, which is currently defined in the Criminal Law, from which criminal liability arises, is too high for persons to be held criminally liable. In addition, it is not uncommon for several persons to contribute sums of money separately without reaching the specified amount, and it is difficult for the controlling authority to prove that the said persons have acted in a group with a common intention.
Currently, criminal liability arises if parties are illegally financed in the amount of 50 minimum monthly salaries. On the other hand, ten minimum monthly wages are considered a significant amount in the sense of the law. As of January 1 of this year, the minimum monthly wage in Latvia is 700 euros, so ten minimum wages are 7,000 euros.
Without obtaining a majority of the Saeima’s Legal Commission, the amendments proposed by the Ministry of Justice were not supported today.
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