Latvian agriculture minister probed for owning undeclared property

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-08 05:41:09|Editor: yan
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RIGA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Latvian Agriculture Minister Janis Duklavs is being probed for owning indirectly owning a land in the Freeport of Riga, local media reported Friday.

The probe was launched after a weekly magazine published transcripts of reportedly wiretapped conversations among several politicians and businessmen in which the agriculture minister admits to indirectly owning the land plot.

The anti-corruption bureau's representative Mara Priedite said the weekly Ir magazine unveiled the conversation between Duklavs and his interlocutors, in which the minister said he has an undeclared land property registered in some other people's names at the Freeport of Riga.

Jekabs Straume, the head of the Corruption Prevention Bureau told journalists earlier this week that the bureau would check the authenticity of the wiretapped conversations of several influential businessmen and politicians, including Duklavs, which reportedly took place at the Ridzene hotel in Riga in 2010.

Agriculture Minister Duklavs has dismissed the Ir magazine report as false, saying he did not own any land in the port's territory.

The minister said today, however, that he would fully cooperate with the Latvian tax and law enforcement authorities as they probe the information about his allegedly undeclared property and provide all the information they might request of him.

Ir magazine, which published the transcripts of the politicians and businessmen's conversations a few weeks ago, said it obtained the recordings from an "undisclosed source."

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