Latvia’s IT procurement scandal has moved well beyond the frame of a routine corruption case. According to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation concerns at least six ERDF-funded projects worth up to €1.5 million and includes warnings that some of the affected projects may pose risks to elections and democratic procedures.
That shifts the story from procurement compliance to the credibility of Latvia’s digital governance model.
DATA CARD: Case scale
Projects under investigation: at least 6
Funding source: European Regional Development Fund
Estimated value: up to €1.5 million
Suspected offences: large-scale fraud and large-scale money laundering by an organised group
Security angle: possible risks to elections and democratic procedures
According to EPPO, the suspected scheme involved an unlawful secret agreement to determine procurement winners in advance and channel project tasks to pre-selected companies, with illicit profits allegedly shared among participants. In Latvian reporting, the case is centred on a VDAA procurement for consulting services and supervision of software and documentation development quality.
DATA CARD: Publicly named figures
Jorens Liopa – former head of the State Digital Development Agency (VDAA)
Ainars Biders – public procurement specialist
Aigars Ceruss – owner and head of the Corporate Solutions group
Arvis Širaks – deputy director and Administrative Department head at VDAA, suspended pending clarification of the circumstances
According to the Latvian Television programme De Facto, the framework agreement at the centre of the case involved Agile & Co, Corporate Consulting, Ernst & Young Baltic, and PricewaterhouseCoopers as the lead partner of a suppliers’ association. The same reporting said investigators believe the future division of work may have been discussed in advance before the procurement process had formally run its course. De Facto also named several consultants and company representatives in connection with that version of events, including Harijs Baranovs of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rudīte Spriņģe-Karnīte of Ernst & Young Baltic, and Aigars Staks of Agile & Co. These are still investigative claims reported by television, not court findings.
DATA CARD: Firms mentioned in reporting
Agile & Co
Corporate Consulting
Ernst & Young Baltic
PricewaterhouseCoopers
also mentioned in procedural actions: RIX Technologies, Baltic Software Factory, Orange 4 IT
The background matters. Liopa is not a marginal figure, but a former head of the agency at the centre of Latvia’s digital state infrastructure. His name had already become politically sensitive after the 2025 municipal election IT collapse, when the vote-scanning system failed on election night after earlier problems during testing and rollout. The current case therefore connects not only to procurement integrity, but to an earlier breakdown in confidence around state-managed digital systems.
President Edgars Rinkēvičs has reacted accordingly. After meeting European Prosecutor Gatis Doniks, he said it was essential to examine all the circumstances of the case and the possible risks to national security arising from these unlawful activities. That response is a sign that the scandal is no longer being treated as a narrow contracting issue. It is now also a test of whether Latvia’s digital administration can still be presented externally as reliable, secure and institutionally disciplined.
Only at that point does the international implication come into focus. The scandal does not erase Latvia’s digital achievements, but it does place extra pressure on the credibility of e-governance as a state model. If an EU-funded IT procurement case expands into questions about elections, oversight and security, international partners are likely to look more cautiously at Latvia’s role in digital, cross-border and institution-building projects.