WATCH ⟩ A criminal trial has been started in Lithuania for forgeries in a multi-million gas project in Latvia

“Conti Chemical Company”, registered in Riga, is one of the main suppliers of gas pipelines in Latvia, also for the state company “Conexus Baltic Grid”. The company is owned by three persons – Samuil Antokol (55%), Arkady Kogan (30%) and Viktor Brod (15%). The company was founded in 1994 as a subsidiary of the Swiss company “ABC Conti”. The Swiss company was managed by the then scandalous Grigory Luchanskis.

“Conexus” board chairman Uldis Baris said “Nothing personal” that until the beginning of the war, the delivery of products from this factory was a standard practice, but after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Conexus” no longer bought such pipelines or fittings. He is also quite sure that the products delivered to Latvia from other countries are authentic, because specialists who deal with these parts on a daily basis should be able to recognize them.

The fittings, pressure equipment and other parts used in main gas pipelines must be registered in the Register of Dangerous Equipment of Latvia. This is done by independent inspection bodies – mostly private companies. When the pipeline is put into operation, the overall safety of the construction is evaluated, not the origin and documents of each part.

“Conexus” explains that suppliers require two certificates – from the manufacturer and from an independent inspection body. “Conti Chemical Company” is a regular supplier of gas pipelines and equipment.

Those involved in the Lithuanian project believe that Andrejs Vainšteins, the representative of the Chelyabinsk factory, was involved in the organization of the scheme. He himself wrote on the social network “LinkedIn” that he once interned with Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanokas (LKS) and in this role allegedly helped organize a conference on European and Russian energy cooperation.

Neither Weinstein nor Ždanok was contacted by the program this week, but after the news about Ždanok’s cooperation with the Russian special services came to light, Weinstein deleted his biography from “LinkedIn”.