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On November 12, the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court rejected R. Kuodis’ complaint against the decision of the Chief Official Ethics Commission (COEC) taken in April this year. The COEC ruled that R. Kuodis violated the provision of the Law of Coordination of Public and Private Interests in the Public Function to avoid conflicts of interest, and to withdraw if it arose.
According to the COEC, R. Kuodis withdrew and did not participate in the meeting of the LAC Board of Directors to discuss and vote on whether his behavior in the publication of messages on social networks complied with the Code of Ethics for Central Bank Employees, but later signed its resolution and protocol that it did not violate the Code.
R. Kuodis stated before the court that in the absence of the LAC Board of Directors, he was forced to sign because he was temporarily in office, but he did not physically participate in the deliberations, and the Board’s decision had already been taken and was valid. The court did not agree with these arguments by R. Kuodis.
‘A person working in the public service (…) must not only report the existing conflict of interest and withdraw, but also must not take any action, as in this case, sign documents. (..) If R. Kuodis has withdrawn from the adoption of a decision related to him, it does not mean that he can sign documents that record the progress of the issue discussed against him and the decision taken against him, ”the court told BNS.
The Bank of Latvia investigated the report that R. Kuodis may have violated the code of ethics on social media by insulting and reacting with contempt to the then chairman of the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee, Stasys Jakeliūnas, his parliamentary commission of inquiry initiated on the 2009 crisis, political opponents, as well as a personalized record of the validity of Vilibor.
The Board of the Central Bank, in the absence of R. Kuodžius, examined the collected material and decided in August last year that there was no violation.
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