It's unclear if the management shuffle at Latvijas Pasts is temporary or permanent.

RIGA — The board of the Latvia’s national postal company Latvijas Pasts was suddenly replaced Wednesday by staff from the transport ministry.

The decision was made by the shareholders at an emergency meeting and swiftly approved by the Transport Ministry’s State Secretary Nils Freivalds. The transport ministry said reasoning behind this sudden move was that the board has been unable to improve the financial situation of the state-owned company and has been constantly changing its decisions. One of the previous board members handed in a resignation notice before the shareholders meeting.

Aivars Veiss, the head of the Transport Ministry’s Internal Audit and Quality Management Department, was appointed Latvijas Pasts board chairman Wednesday. Veiss will not relinquish his post at the transport ministry, indicating that his appointment may only be temporary. Veiss was joined by two new board members: Ilze leksandrovica, head of the Transport Ministry’s Investment Department, and Riga International Airport board member Toms Naburgs. Latvian law does not forbid these individuals to have two positions simultaneously in the state sector, according to the Transport Ministry.

It is still unclear if Latvijas Pasts will be managed by the new board in a long run. In the meantime an interim report on the operations of Latvijas  Pasts is being prepared, which should be ready for the government meeting next week.

Latvijas Pasts has been experiencing severe financial difficulties for several years. In 2008 the company lost 3.5 million lats (€4.9 million). According to the transport minister Kaspars Gerhards the expected losses this year are over one million lats (€1.4 million).