Uģis Magonis & Oleg Ossinovski Face 4-Year Prison Sentences

Eng.LSM.lv (Latvian Public Broadcasting)

The prosecutor at the Riga Regional Court has requested that Uģis Magonis, the former chairman of the board of directors of SJSC Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways, LDz), and Estonian businessman Oleg Ossinovski be sentenced to four years in prison each, following accusations of corruption. The prosecutor’s office has also sought the partial confiscation of Magonis’s property and a three-year ban on Ossinovski from participating in state and local government tenders.

Additionally, the prosecutor has asked that €499,500, seized during the arrest of the two men, be classified as criminally acquired property and confiscated for the state.

The case has been ongoing since 2017, when both Magonis and Ossinovski were charged with bribery. The Vidzeme District Court had initially acquitted the two men, but the prosecutor’s office appealed the decision. The charges stem from an alleged bribery scheme in which Ossinovski, the owner of the company Skinest Rail, is said to have given Magonis nearly half a million euros for helping facilitate the purchase of old diesel locomotives for Latvian Railways.

In his defense, Magonis claimed that the money was not a bribe, but a reward for lobbying on behalf of Ossinovski to the management of Russian Railways, even though he was serving as the chairman of the Latvian state-owned railway at the time.

The court hearing will continue on July 29 and 31, 2024, where the defense will present their arguments.