Today, on 9 June, the Parliament of Latvia (Saeima) appointed Mr. Jēkabs Straume, the current director of the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), for a second term of five years.
Mr. J. Straume, director of the KNAB “Corruption is a fluctuating phenomenon, which depends both on public attitude and readiness to get involved or support corruption crimes, as well as on the skills and abilities of anti-corruption bodies to adapt to the situation in corruption prevention and combating. For the fight against corruption to be effective, the KNAB must constantly evolve, and that has been happening over the past five years.
During this period, the KNAB has had several accomplishments. For the first time in history, the Bureau has investigated and proposed prosecution in four foreign public official bribery cases, of which one has already been fully concluded, and also helped Latvia comply with recommendations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As the importance of risk analysis in anticorruption is ever growing, significant effort has been put into strengthening analytical capacity, including by raising additional funding from the European Commission and other bodies.
A no less important task that has been achieved during the past five years is strengthening the general capacity of the KNAB, both in the form of teambuilding, as well receiving additional posts and State budget funding. I am certain that our course is right, and it must continue in the following term. I thank the team of the KNAB for working selflessly, as well as our cooperation partners and the public for their support in the fight against corruption, and the unwillingness to accept corruption as the norm and report it. Honour over power!”