Video ⟩ The new owner of “Mediju Nama” is offered to buy over the debts of “Dienas Media” as well

The company “Ostas Parks”, whose board member and acquaintance of Anrija Lemberg, Jānis Lācis, claims that Udalova rejected his offer. Meanwhile, Dienas medijos believes that the real purpose of the legal proceedings is to disrupt the operation of both editorial offices.

Officially, for almost three months now, Ritums Rosenbergs has been the editor-in-chief of the publishing house MN, owned by businesswoman Udalova, and thus also of the digital newspaper “Neatkarīgā” or NRA, since January.

For many years, Rosenberg wrote about the criminal case of Aivars Lemberg together with Uldi Dreiblat, who left the NRA last summer. The portal even had a special section “Behind the scenes of the Lemberg case”, which is now closed, but can be found in the archive. The last article of the creative duo about the trial was published more than nine months ago – at the beginning of June 2022.

Why is the NRA not so interested in the Lemberg case anymore? Rosenberg, the new editor-in-chief of the NRA, explains that at the moment it has entered into a routine, and now we just have to wait for the verdict: “The most interesting moment in legal proceedings is when the witnesses testify, and the moment when the testimonies and documents are examined. Well, in principle, the rest is such a routine judicial procedure – to check the materials. And in the second instance, a decision was already made not to interrogate the witnesses. And through that, well, what’s the point of listening to the same thing again?”

Since last fall, other names appear in the NRA columns much more often than Lembergs, such as Andris Graf, head of the Baltic Institute of Corporate Governance. He has apparently fallen foul of several NRA journalists, including Rosenberg himself.

This happened shortly after the institute, which NRA refers to as “Grafa Kantori” in publications, excluded the state company “Latvijas valsts meži” (LVM) from its circle of corporate members, accusing it of dubious practices in the selection and election of board members.

Rosenberg, however, rejects that the NRA would accompany LVM: “This can be explained by my decision to cover why “Meži” was attacked for management, and I started to look at who those attackers were, and it turned out that there is Andris Graf, who is a known “Unity” politician. Of course, this topic is interesting.” When asked if he has really learned about the Baltic Corporate Governance Institute, Rosenbergs says: “No, I didn’t find out the first time, but, well, a cantor is a cantor, there are many associations, they work, but as soon as the associations get involved in some personnel transfer, politics, that’s how the issue becomes relevant for us.”

Rosenberg claims that the topic did not come from somewhere outside or from the general director of MN, lawyer Daina Lochmele. She entered the publishing house last summer as a representative of the unknown investors until December 2022. Unofficially, versions that the owner is Udalova have been sounding since last spring.

“de facto” unofficially, but it is known for sure that

as early as last summer and fall, NRA journalists received various instructions from Lochmele about topics or even specific articles. In some cases, even the opinions of the owners have been invoked as an argument for what should be improved in the articles. It happened at a time when the chief editor was Rolands Pētersons, who came from “Diena”, who is the deputy of the current editor Rosenberg.

When asked whether editorial decisions are discussed at the level of MN owners or general managers, involvement in the advancement of specific topics or interest in the creation and content of specific articles, NRA Chief Editor Rosenberg denies it: “I work with journalists constantly. Communication happens many times a day. We also have general meetings and so on. (..) With me – journalists. Questions about computers, tables, things like that are addressed with the manager. (..) She is excited about articles, about publications, about it, but “how should?” – this is completely an editor’s question, absolutely unambiguous.”

MN Director General Lochmele, who was delegated to speak with “de facto” Udalova, who is abroad, announced after getting acquainted with the questions that she would answer in writing instead of an interview. In formal and concise answers, she stated that the issues related to the MN purchase transaction are a commercial secret and cannot be disclosed, but that personnel changes are a normal daily process. It should be added here that not only some reporters have left the NRA, but also the long-time editor-in-chief Juris Paiders.

Lochmele forwarded questions about editorial policy to Rosenberg, but to “de facto” additional questions about whether MN’s management or owners somehow control or influence the content, she stated that “content issues are solely under the control of the editorial staff”.

Ločmele did not answer the question about the possible interest of MN owners in other Latvian press publications or portals. Anastasija Udalova herself denies this in writing “de facto”:

“I can confirm to you that I have nothing to do with the purchase of other media – I and the entire MN team focus on the development of our portal and other communication channels.”

The previous owner of “Mediju nama” Nauris Kāpostiņš stated “de facto” that he had signed a non-disclosure agreement, so he could not comment in detail on anything related to the transaction.

The change of owners, more precisely – the entry of a new Estonian investor, also took place at the end of last year in the publishing house “Dienas biznes” (DB), which also took over the editions of “Dienas media” (DM).

Along with Edgars Kota and “Dienas” editor-in-chief Gatis Madžiņas, the owners of DB now include the Estonian woodworker and triathlete Maits Laidvė.

Soon after, SIA “Ostas Parks”, whose co-owner and board member is Jānis Lācis, an acquaintance of the son of the former mayor of Ventspils, Anrijas Lembergs, took legal action against both publishing houses. In the court of economic affairs, it was “de facto” clarified that the claim of “Osta Parks” states: between 2016 and the fall of 2020, the company concluded 20 loan agreements with SIA “Izdevniecība Dienas mediji” and lent money according to them. The repayment terms for the contracts have come, but the loan has not been repaid, and the outstanding loan amount exceeds one and a half million euros. The lawsuit is also jointly directed against the “Dienas biznes” publishing house.

Before going to court, “Ostas Parks” tried to recover its money in another way, it was found out “de facto”. Lācis answered in the affirmative to the “de facto” question, whether he had any communication with Udalov in recent years related to the media business – for example, about the sale of debt obligations: “2022. At the end of the year, I offered to consider such an opportunity, but this idea was not concretely developed and no transactions took place.” To a clarifying question, whether it is about DM’s debts, which will now be litigated, Lācis admitted: “Including… but there was no interest in it, so the topic was not developed further.”

The editor-in-chief of “Dienas” Gatis Madžiņš, who is currently also a co-owner of DB and a member of the board, on the evening of receiving the claim on February 17, mysteriously tweeted:

“Today we also received a letter from those who want the old establishment back. Looks like that [emocijzīme – plīša lācītis] provided 3A with a new criminal case. To be continued very soon.”

Did he mean Jānis Lāci with the teddy bear emoticon, and did he mean Aivars Lembergs, Andri Škēli and Ainārs Šleser, who are sometimes referred to as oligarchs or the “Rowland brothers” by 3A? Madžiņš does not comment on this, because he was denied it by the legal aid provider, who does not allow him to give a “de facto” interview at all.

However, the publishing house “Dienas mediji” provided a written comment on the claim of “Ostas Parks”: “We consider the claim brought by SIA “Ostas Parks” to be unfounded. The purpose of the lawsuit is to disrupt the operation of two independent media at once. SIA “Ostas Parks” has not submitted annual reports and with the claim, it is probably trying to avoid paying taxes, now trying to rename expenses not related to economic activity as loans and using the court as an instrument for this. Therefore, we plan to invite a number of directly and indirectly involved persons to the court as witnesses, who will have to testify in court, being aware of the severity of the law in case of false testimony.”

Although Udalova denies her interest in other media, including “Diena” and DB, the purchase of MN is not her first steps in the Latvian press. A couple of years ago, she disappeared for a while on the editorial board of “Forbes” magazine.

Katrīna Iļjinska, the editor-in-chief of the magazine and owner of the publisher, says that she had created the council, and everyone had their own role in it. From Udalova, she hoped to receive investments for the operation of the magazine – Udalova paid 30 thousand euros for a year in the council.

The council also included Mārcis Martinsons, whose father, businessman Mārs Martinsons, involved in several criminal trials, would have the role of ensuring the magazine’s advertising cash flow. The scandalous public relations specialist Kārlis Gudonis was also appointed to the Council – because a third person was needed.

Udalova left the council more than a year ago and did not become a co-owner of “Forbes” either. When Iljinska was invited to a meeting by MN procurator Lochmele last summer, she thought that maybe Udalova wanted to create a bigger concern. “However, The Independent is not a business media and Forbes is, so they are not in any way competing. Then I thought, if she has such serious intentions… Then I met Dayna, but she didn’t say anything, denied in every way that Anastasia Udalova was anywhere near there. She said that she could not reveal the investors,” says Ilyinska.

However, the purpose of the meeting with the MN procurator turned out to be different, says the editor-in-chief of “Forbes”:

“We met and she just offered me a salaried job to go from Forbes to The Independent, which I was totally confused about. Well, why should any person, trying to build his own business, go to work, giving up his interests, in another media, and, let’s say, with a dubious reputation. So I refused.”

“de facto” it is known that MN is quite actively looking for employees, for example, three journalists have switched from “Diena” to NRA, but several others were also invited. During the “de facto” interview, NRA editor-in-chief Rosenberg expressed his readiness to hire a “de facto” journalist as well.

People from other fields are also invited. For example, public relations specialist Jurģis Liepnieks, when asked if he had a job offer from the NRA and why he did not agree to it, “de facto” stated that he did not want to comment on it.

The NRA portal has also decided to develop a Russian-language version with original content, the editor-in-chief confirmed “de facto”. Apparently, the advertisement published on the website of the State Employment Agency is meant for this position, where among the job requirements there are several points that would give advantages to a person with work experience and good knowledge of Russian domestic politics.