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Former Latvian Railway CEO to be released on bail

Xinhua, October 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A district court in Riga on Thursday agreed to release Ugis Magonis, the former CEO of the state-owned railway company Latvijas Dzelzcels (Latvian Railway), who was arrested in August on suspicions of graft, on 400,000 euros' (451,320 U.S. dollars) bail.

Magonis' legal representative Janis Rozenbergs told the press that the money had to be provided in a month's time. The court also ruled Magonis' assets should be frozen, including several properties and bank accounts, the lawyer said.

Riga City Vidzeme District Court decided to release Magonis on bail despite the Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau's position that the former Latvian Railway CEO should remain in custody.

The anticorruption bureau is probing Magonis for taking a bribe of nearly 500,000 euros in exchange for giving the green light to a multi-million deal in which the Latvian railway company purchased four old diesel engines from Skinest, a company owned by Estonian millionaire Oleg Ossinovsky.

Anticorruption officers detained Magonis on Aug. 6 with half a million euros in cash on his way home from Estonia.

Magonis had been heading Latvijas Dzelzcels for nearly ten years, since 2005. (1 euro=1.13 U.S. dollars) Endit