Riga - A criminal group composed of Soviet-era KGB agents and former and present special service agents is operating in Latvia, the country's prime minister said Thursday. "We know people, their names, concrete crimes, we have testimonies, but we haven't detained anyone yet," Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said.
The criminal gang - allegedly linked to certain politicians - is believed to be involved in extortion and drug trafficking in the small Baltic EU country, he said.
Kalvitis did not disclose any names, but called on President Valdis Zatlers to hold a special national security council meeting "as soon as possible."
Theoretically Kalvitis' allegations could be true, said Lolita Cigane, a corruption expert at Providus Center.
However, Kalvitis was targeting his political opponents, giving reason to doubt his allegations, she said.
The claim came days after Kalvitis ordered the suspension of Latvia's anti-corruption czar Aleksejs Loskutovs, pending an investigation into the alleged "serious" mishandling of the bureau's finances.
Experts largely saw the move as an attempt to replace the head of the anti-corruption bureau as it is due to announce results of an investigation into party finances.
The government has formed a commission - with the prosecuting attorney at its head - to investigate Loskutovs, who has led the bureau since 2004. It is seen as the first step in a drive to fire him completely.
A commission ruling against him would be followed by votes in the cabinet and in parliament. The prosecuting attorney is the only legal expert on the commission.
Kalvitis refused to participate in a public-affairs programme on Latvian public television Wednesday night, devoted in part to the government's decision to oust the anti-corruption czar.
"What he says happens in a monologue - there's no dialogue," Cigane told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
The dominance of the four-party ruling coalition became apparent after parliament elected a surgeon, Valdis Zatlers, as Latvia's president in June.
"While under (former president) Vaira Vike-Freiberga, there was some force against it, now there's none," Cigane said. "He (the prime minister) remains unchallenged."
The public perception of public sector corruption has increased slightly, according to the data released by Transparency International this week.
"We are still considered a country with a large corruption level," the head of Delna, the local Transparency International chapter, Roberts Putnis said.
"We can't talk about any progress made since the last election in 2006," he told the Diena newspaper on Thursday.
