Former top executives of Latvia's Latvenergo power utility get jail sentences for corruption

RIGA, April 9 (Xinhua) -- An appeals court in Riga on Monday handed down real jail terms to two former top executives of Latvia's state-owned power utility Latvenergo and a business adviser for corruption, public television reported.

Riga Regional Court sentenced former Larvenergo vice-president Aigars Melko to four years and six months in jail. The energy company's former production manager Gunars Cvetkovs and business adviser Andrejs Livanovics each were sentenced to three years and six months in jail for their role in the corruption case.

The court also ordered the defendants to repay 480,000 euros worth of illegal proceeds and seized 146,000 euros worth of illegal proceeds.

It was established during the trial that Livanovics had bribed Melko and Cvetkovs to secure the rights for Alstom company to reconstruct three hydro-aggregates at the Plavinas Hydro Power Plant in eastern Latvia. Livanovics gave the two Latvenergo executives more than 600,000 euros in bribes from Aug. 1, 2007 to June 15, 2010.

The defendants were not arrested in courtroom and can still appeal the verdict of the region court before the Latvian Supreme Court.

In January 2016, a court of first instance handed down fines to Melko and Livanovics, while Cvetkovs was acquitted.

The Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau opened a criminal investigation into the Latvenergo corruption case in 2010. In the summer of that year, the anti-corruption bureau's operatives conducted a number of searches and detained several officials, including then Latvenergo president Karlis Mikelsons and his deputy Melko. Enditem