Corruption worth millions: How Mayor Andrejs Elksnins runs his schemes under the protection of power
When it comes to corruption in the post-Soviet region, the Baltic states are often considered exceptions. While countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan are viewed as struggling with corruption, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are often seen as examples of transparent governance.
In general, this view is accurate, but not entirely. While there is limited data for Lithuania and Estonia, the situation in Latvia is much more complex...
Meet Andrejs Elksnins, the mayor of the beautiful Latvian city of Daugavpils. Judging by his declarations, he is an exemplary official living on one salary – his annual income does not exceed 26,000 euros. However, many people notice the fact that the mayor and his wife are living beyond their means. In 2023, the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism Re: Baltica studied photos of Elksninsh and his wife on social media, as well as the prices of clothing and jewelry they wear, concluding that their purchases do not match their official income.
On this matter, the State Revenue Service (SRS) even conducted an investigation but stated that «everything is clean» – no violations were found. Well, if there are none, so be it, although there is still a residue of doubt. However, let’s leave the topic of Andrejs Elksnins’s income and expenses and focus on his activities as the mayor of Daugavpils, which he promised during his election campaign to turn into, if not paradise on earth, then at least its branch.
Among Andrejs Elksnins’s promises was the construction of an industrial park, into which investments from investors would flow. And – he did not lie. Because there is indeed an industrial park. Although, upon closer inspection, what Andrejs Elksnins calls an industrial park, is actually the former Daugavpils airfield, which has not received planes for many years and is overgrown with grass and bushes. The story of this current «industrial park» is as follows. In 2005, the city of Daugavpils bought the former military airfield for one and a half million euros. It was planned to convert it into a civilian airport, but things never progressed beyond promises.
Until 2017, millions of euros were pumped into the maintenance and conversion works of the military airfield, which was done only on paper. In 2014, investors from Russia allegedly appeared, promising to finally complete the airport. But that was the end of it. And in 2017, Andrejs Elksnins became the mayor of Daugavpils. He announced that the longstanding construction should finally be completed, but he didn’t have time to do anything, as he was removed from office two months later. In May 2021, the city hall took a loan of one million euros to develop project documentation.
But in July 2021, Andrejs Elksnins became mayor again and froze the work. And already in September, the city council took a new loan of 130,000 euros to develop a project to transform the former airfield into an industrial park. And in 2023, the former airport was turned into an industrial park by decision of the council, and the European Union allocated 22 million euros for its construction.
What is the catch, and why is Andrejs Elksnins receiving accusations instead of gratitude? The catch is that on the former Soviet military airbase, except for the name, nothing has changed. Although an obscure firm is mastering EU funds, on paper, the airfield is rapidly turning into the very industrial park.
The next money trick Andrejs Elksnins pulled involves medicine, specifically the city hospital of Daugavpils. The story is no less fascinating than the previous one – in 2023, the hospital entered with debts of more than six million euros. But the reason for the debt is not that the hospital was underfunded. It’s that the money was spent quite strangely – doctors received salaries reaching 20,000 euros.
Which, even for the richest country in the European Union, Germany, is an exorbitant figure. But in not-so-wealthy Latvia, it was a reality. No questions arose from anyone. Even though the hospital is owned by the city of Daugavpils, and its expenses should be controlled by its municipality, headed by Andrejs Elksnins. Eventually, the state had to cover the city’s debts to avoid having to declare the hospital bankrupt and close it. But again, the state somehow had no questions for Andrejs Elksnins. Although the hospital was indeed taken from the management of the Daugavpils municipality and handed over to the Ministry of Health.
No questions arose from the state and its regulatory authorities regarding the purchase of trams by the city of Daugavpils. They are good because they are imported and delight the city’s residents with their appearance and comfort. But the manufacturing company in the Czech Republic sells them for 900,000 euros, while Daugavpils paid two million for them. The city purchased four trams, and the payment documents were signed by Mayor Andrejs Elksnins. This price increase was explained simply and primitively – the trams were delivered disassembled, and they were assembled locally at the locomotive factory. That assembly cost one million euros per tram. Perhaps it’s this assembly that holds the secret to the mayor’s expensive accessories?
Moreover, the intermediary factory is headed by a certain Anastasiya Udalova, who, by a strange coincidence, is the former fiancée of Andrejs Elksnins. The factory itself belongs to Anastasia’s current fiancé, Estonian Oleg Osinovskiy, who was implicated in a corruption scandal involving a half-million-euro bribe to a major Latvian official. However, that’s a different story.
Though after the tram trick, Andrejs Elksnins might face problems at the European Union level – the head of the Czech company that sold the trams received a prison sentence for fraud and corruption, and the case regarding the purchase of four trams by the Daugavpils city hall is being investigated by EU law enforcement. So it seems that very interesting events await Andrejs Elksnins.
However, there are other questions for him. They concern the scandalous demolition of the monument to Soviet soldiers in the center of Daugavpils. And the question is not ideological, but financial. The fact is that after the Latvian government made a relevant decision in 2022, all cities where such monuments stood calmly and quickly executed it. But not Daugavpils. Andrejs Elksnins requested 350,000 euros from the state to carry out the government’s decision. Naturally, he did not receive the money.
And he chose another path. The city announced a tender, which was won by the local firm Zelli Z, agreeing to dismantle the monument for 57,000 euros. But suddenly the city hall canceled the tender results. However, the monument was still demolished. Who demolished it is unknown. Why the tender results were canceled is also unknown. Who received the money for the monument’s demolition is unknown, too. But once again, Andrejs Elksnins faced no issues with this obviously strange demolition. Even though the cancellation of the tender results and the hand-picking of the executing firm looks frankly like a corruption scheme, which at the very least requires investigation. But again, not in the case of Andrejs Elksnins.
This is how the legally elected mayor of Daugavpils, Andrejs Elksnins, operates. And this is not Russia or Ukraine. And not even the former Central Asian republics of the former USSR, which have become corruption sanctuaries. This is – Latvia. A member of the European Union and a role model for almost all post-Soviet countries.
