Latvian taxpayers have witnessed an incredible orgy of theft since Latvia regained independence in 1991, resulting in the total destruction of the national economy and the loss of a third of the national population:

(1) all state enterprises were privatized for miniscule prices to a small circle of oligarchs; the loss to taxpayers was billions of dollars

(2) all of the most desirable state properties were privatized for miniscule prices to political insiders; the loss to taxpayers was billions of dollars

(3) the largest bank in the country (notorious for its involvement in the Kempmayer, South Bridge, Alstom, Daimler and other corruption cases) was cleaned out by insiders; the loss to taxpayers was billions of dollars

Yet, nobody has gone to jail!  That’s right, from all of the crimes listed above, the number of perpetrators sent to jail was ZERO.

Does this mean the jails in Latvia are empty?  NO!

In fact, Latvia has the highest incarceration rate in the European Union.  Latvian officials say that most of these prisoners are in pre-trial detention.  In other words, the people in the jails were randomly picked up off the street and did not have trials.  Latvian officials say they are overburdened with work and therefore cannot have trials for the people who are in jail.

The officials certainly are overburdened with work.  They have been very busy giving enterprises and properties to the oligarchs and politicians!

The IMF, EU, EBRD, and World Bank should stop lending money to the Latvian government until the innocent are set free and the guilty are in jail.

Here is the link to Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_rate