Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation

Aivars Lembergs.

Judge Valerijs Maksimovs will preside over the case, as the Riga Regional Court representative Ilvars Tomsons told LETA.

It is unknown yet when exactly the case will be heard in court.

Lembergs' attorney Armands Sumanis earlier said that the amount demanded by Lembergs is commensurate to the seriousness of the charges that the prosecutor's office had brought against him, it is also similar to the amounts that the wrongly accused have demanded elsewhere in the world.

Lembergs wishes for both the prosecutor's office and the Finance Ministry to be the defendants in the case. "Since the prosecutor's office has no properties of its own and it does not earn money, yet it always acts on behalf of the state, the Finance Ministry has also been invited as a defendant in the case," Sumanis explained.

In the petition, Lembergs in great detail retells the process of the "Grinbergs affair" since it started on December 29, 2005. "There is evidence and facts proving that the criminal case was launched unjustly, and the opening and investigation in the criminal case were part of a politically motivated affair," Sumanis said.

If Lembergs manages to collect LVL 1 million from the state of Latvia, he will use part of the money to cover the litigation expenses and donate the rest for construction of a new children's home in Ventspils.

The prosecutor office's press officer, Andrejs Vasks, told LETA on Monday that the prosecutor's office could not comment as it had not yet been officially informed about Lembergs' claim.

As reported, the Justice Ministry last week decided to pay LVL 2,400 compensation to Lembergs regarding being wrongly accused in the "Grinbergs affair". Lembergs had turned to the ministry with a request to compensate him LVL 104,450.