SAB informed officials about Stepaņenko’s father’s large money gifts

Latvia’s Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB) previously informed the country’s top officials about large money gifts made to politician and 15th Saeima election candidate Jūlija Stepaņenko by her father, who lives in Russia, LSM reported, citing LETA.

There is currently no evidence that would prevent Stepaņenko from standing in the Saeima elections.

SAB did not comment on when or which senior state officials had been informed.

Stepaņenko has declined to explain the origin of the funds, citing her right to family privacy. She confirmed that her father lives in Russia and helps support her family, although he left the family during her childhood.

In a Monday interview with journalist Jānis Domburs, Stepaņenko avoided expressing a view on whether a person with relatives in Russia could be more easily influenced.

Asked what her father had done in Russia if he could give her hundreds of thousands of euros, Stepaņenko said he was an entrepreneur in the construction industry and that this was not a crime.

Stepaņenko also said that listing her father’s name as unknown in one field was the result of a technical error.