“I welcome the fact that the regulation and application practice of the insolvency process is being improved. However, the development of certain provisions related to the conflict of interest, the winding-up process of joint stock company “Trasta komercbanka”, and the issue of the appointment of an administrator in the insolvency proceedings of this credit institution that the court is entitled to rule cause suspicions about the desire to influence certain processes,” stated Raimonds Vējonis.
Amendments to the Law on Credit Institutions prohibit a person, who has represented one of the clients of a credit institution in any relations with a credit institution for the last two years, to assume the duties of a liquidator or administrator in winding-up or insolvency proceedings of the credit institution. Such a regulation is considerably more extensive than the one established in the Law on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest in the Activities of Public Officials.
By amending the Law, a list of potential candidates for liquidators and administrators of credit institutions is significantly narrowed, and the opportunities to find the best candidate for the liquidation or insolvency process of a particular credit institution are restricted. Therefore, the justification of necessity for the disputed provisions is unclear, and their relevance to the prevention of potential conflicts of interest must be assessed.
In his letter to Madam Speaker of the Saeima Ināra Mūrniece, the President of Latvia emphasises that insufficient supervision and control of the insolvency process, as well as opportunities to abuse insolvency proceedings for individuals causes significant losses to the state. This increases the distrust to the business environment and jeopardises the attraction of investments to our national economy.