According to information from the LRT Investigations Department, even before the unannounced meeting, Dirginčius received a call from the Chairman of the Lithuanian Agricultural Chamber (LŽŪT), during which he was urged to review the EUR 140,000 penalty imposed on the farmer by the National Paying Agency (NMA) and to lift the seizure of all his assets.
When the head of the NMA refused, a few days later he attended a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture (ŽŪM), attended by Mažeika, Vilionis, and the farmer mentioned in the publication. At the meeting, the chairman of the LŽŪT continued to demand that the farmer’s problem be resolved.
Although the meeting in the minister’s office was not on his public agenda, the Ministry of Agriculture saw nothing wrong with it. The ministry explained that no registered lobbyist attended the meeting, so it was allegedly unnecessary to include it on the public agenda.
Mažeika told LRT that the meeting took place spontaneously; furthermore, he claimed that no pressure was exerted on the head of the National Paying Agency (NMA).
„It all happened on the spur of the moment. People were nearby – whether in court or elsewhere. Is it unacceptable when the head of Lietuvos Veislininkystė, a company under our authority, is present? To pop in and explain the situation so that there would be no need to travel to the farm or plan a separate visit somewhere. I believe that there was no, as I say, influence or anything of the sort here. I listened to the situation. What he said should be assessed by the experts,“ Mažeika told the LRT Investigations Department.
As reported by ELTA, officers from the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) searched the NMA at the end of September.
The investigation, carried out by law enforcement agencies, alleges that civil servants may have deliberately failed to perform their duties, thereby causing significant financial and non-financial damage to the financial interests of Lithuania and the European Union (EU).
Deputy Director Tomas Orlickas and several other NMA staff members have been granted suspect status in the investigation, while the director has been granted procedural witness status.