The committee took this decision at a meeting on Wednesday. The VTEK will assess whether Matjošaitytė breached the Law on the Reconciliation of Public and Private Interests.
„Having reviewed the information reported and published in the media, and having analysed the reports received by the VTEK as well as additional material gathered by us, it is proposed to launch an investigation into whether the conduct of the Central Electoral Commission member complies with the provisions of the Law on the Reconciliation of Public and Private Interests, which require the avoidance of conflicts of interest, recusal, and the declaration of circumstances that may give rise to a conflict of interest. A letter has been drafted to Laura Matjošaitytė, requesting that she provide an explanation,“ said Commission Chair Jolanta Bernotaitė during the meeting.
According to the VTEK Chair, the investigation is scheduled to be completed within three months.
This decision was approved by consensus.
The VTEK received a complaint regarding Matjošaitytė at the end of August. However, before deciding whether to launch an investigation, the VTEK resolved to gather further information.
The Central Electoral Commission (CEC) and the Lithuanian Bar Association have now launched investigations into consultations previously provided by a Central Electoral Commission (CEC) member.
Last week, the VRK reported that, based on metadata, it had established that Matjošaitytė had drafted Nemuno Aušra's response to the commission on matters relating to membership fees the year before last.
The news portal Delfi also reported that in September 2024, more than a month before the Seimas elections, Matjošaitytė sent a draft of the party’s response to the CEC, which she had prepared, to Robert Puchovič, vice-chair of Nemuno Aušra. In the email, she asked Puchovič to transfer her draft response into a Word document he had created himself, so that her metadata would not remain.
Puchovič himself told Delfi that he did not recall such an email.
ELTA notes that questions regarding Matjošaitytė actions arose after Delfi reported that she may have advised Nemuno Aušra ahead of the 2024 Seimas elections and helped the party prepare its response to the Central Electoral Commission.
Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of Nemuno Aušra, said the party had consulted with Matjošaitytė on various matters, but made no payment.
For her part, the Central Electoral Commission member said she had not received „a single euro“ for these consultations.
Earlier, at the initiative of the opposition Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), the necessary signatures were collected to request that a motion to remove Matjošaitytė from her post on the Central Electoral Commission be included on the Seimas’ agenda. MPs from the Conservative, Liberal, and Vardan Lietuvos (In the Name of Lithuania) parliamentary groups signed this document.