Aivars Lembergs

Aivars Lembergs (born September 26, 1953) is a Latvian politician and businessman, who has been the mayor of Ventspils since 1988.

Lembergs was born in Jēkabpils, Latvia. He studied economics in Latvian State University (now know as the University of Latvia), graduating in 1977. He then worked in various positions in the Communist party of Latvia, becoming mayor of Ventspils in 1988. He stayed in this position after Latvia became independent and has been re-elected five times. Lembergs is the leader of the local political party, "Latvijai un Ventspilij" ("For Latvia and Ventspils") which he founded in 1994. "Latvijai un Ventspilij" has completely dominated the city politics since it was founded, winning at least 73% of vote in each of last three elections (1997, 2001 and 2005). Such dominance is unique in Latvian municipal politics.

Under Lembergs as mayor, Ventspils has become the wealthiest town in Latvia. This is mainly due to Ventspils' port facilities, which are used for exporting Russian natural resources (e.g. oil and minerals). It is widely speculated that Lembergs is a major shareholder in many port-related companies (e.g., "Ventspils Nafta" ("Ventspils Oil"), the company that handles oil transit through the Ventspils port). The companies are technically owned by "Yelverton Investment", a Dutch offshore company which does not reveal its owners. The suspicion is that Lembergs, together with other local businessmen, is behind "Yelverton Investment".

Lembergs is among the wealthiest people in Latvia. The true extent of his wealth is unknown to public, because the ownership information of Ventspils companies is not publicly known. The estimates of his wealth by Latvian media range from 85 million to 230 million euros. But, even his publicly known wealth is quite large. According to his income declaration, Lembergs' income in 2005 was 8.6 million lats (€12.3 million).

The details of how Lembergs accumulated his wealth are largely unknown. His previous business partner, Ainars Gulbis, has accused Lembergs of obtaining a large share in their "Kalija Parks" company by threatening Gulbis and "Kalija Parks". Lembergs is a subject of an on-going criminal investigation by Latvian authorities and was charged with bribery, money laundering and abuse of elected office on July 20, 2006. Since March 14, 2007, Lembergs has been under arrest in relation to a criminal investigation.

Prior to his arrest, Lembergs had significant influence over national politics in Latvia. The "Ventspils Nafta" company owns two of the three main Latvian-language national newspapers. The investigation has uncovered a secret agreement between Lembergs and his associates on the one side and Latvian Social Democratic Labour Party on the other side, which provides Social Democrats with funding for their political campaign and a favorable coverage in "Ventspils Nafta" owned newspapers in exchange for Social Democrats taking certain positions. Lembergs has had influence in other political parties as well and was once consulted by a prospective prime minister during negotiations over a new coalition government.

Before the 2006 parliamentary election, Lembergs' party "Latvijai and Ventspilij" entered into an alliance with the Union of Greens and Farmers and the Union of Greens and Farmers named Lembergs as its candidate for the Prime Minister of Latvia.