(adds comment from Riga City Council)

Riga, Jan 6 (LETA) - The Latgale District Court has ordered Riga City Council to reinstate Janis Vaivods, the former director of the Department for Spatial Planning and Mobility, accused of offering bribes.

According to the court ruling, the court decided to annul the council's the order to suspend Vaivods from his position.

The court also upheld Vaivoda's counterclaim against the municipality for the recovery of average wages for forced absenteeism in the amount of EUR 26,451.

According to the city's executive director Janis Lange, the municipality will respect the court's decision and reinstate Vaivods to his position as of today.

According to the court, as long as Vaivods has not been convicted of corruption, he is innocent, Lange said, adding that Vaivods still has not regained his employer's trust.

Therefore, an opportunity will be sought to use Vaivods' professional expertise and keep him away from financial resources as much as possible, the executive director added.

As LETA learned from the Riga City Council, the municipality plan to appeal the court's decision.

As reported, the prosecution pressed charges against Janis Vaivods, former Acting Director of the Riga Municipality's Department for Spatial Planning and Mobility, for offering a large-scale bribe.

The Corruption Prevention Bureau (KNAB) in late June handed over to the prosecutor's office a criminal case in which it obtained evidence that Vaivods allegedly offered a large bribe - EUR 50,000 - to an official of the Transport Ministry in exchange for a favorable decision. The purpose of the bribe offer was to ensure that this public official would waive the ministry's claims for the land plots in the airport area.