When questioned by journalists from Siena and Laisvės TV, Vilčinskas previously denied any connection with Uni Trading and claimed to represent unnamed shareholders of the company.
However, last week, he confirmed to Verslo Žinios that the funds for the loans granted to Uni Trading by Sagerta were earned by him while representing the interests of this company.
„I did not come to Uni Trading with my own money in the literal sense – it became my money when I earned it through Uni Trading. I invested as much as I earned. But formally, it belonged to Uni Trading,“ he told the portal earlier.
Commenting on these statements by Vilčinskas and Paluckas, according to Verslo Žinios, they were described as interpretations.
„I do not comment on the opinions and interpretations of other people,“ Paluckas told the portal, confirming that Vilčinskas was responsible for attracting funds and investments for the project developed by Sagerta.
„I had no joint ventures with Mr. Vilčinskas. I do not have and have never had any joint loans, shares, or contracts. Business relations are defined by share ownership, loans received or granted, and other similar factors. At that time, Mr. Vilčinskas was neither a shareholder nor did he provide any loans, so it can be considered that there were no business relations with Mr. Vilčinskas,“ Paluckas also stated.
Although the Prime Minister claimed not to remember the circumstances in which he was invited by Vilčinskas in 2013 to develop a lake bottom topography application project in Sagerta, he confirmed that both he and D. Vilčinskas had their areas of responsibility in this project.
According to the Prime Minister, it was agreed that he would be responsible for establishing the company and coordinating the creation of information systems, including a mobile application, a website, map coding, and hosting servers for renting future bathymetric maps. At the same time, Vilčinskas would be responsible for attracting funds and investments.
Paluckas also confirmed to the portal that Uni Trading was not only a co-owner of Sagerta but also the leading financier of the project, but claimed to know nothing about the nature of Uni Trading's activities.
The politician had previously told the media that he did not know who the ultimate beneficiaries of Uni Trading were and had informed Verslo Žinios that Vilčinskas himself had informed him that he was not a shareholder in Uni Trading.
ELTA recalls that the second investigation by Laisvės TV and the investigative journalism centre Siena raises questions about the company that developed a lake bottom topography application, which was owned by the head of the government until 2018. Sagerta, which was managed by the Head of the Government until 2018, received and failed to repay hundreds of thousands of euros in loans from Uni Trading, a company linked to businessman Vilčinskas.
Paluckas, who had ties to Vilčinskas and served as deputy mayor of Vilnius, also decided on the payment of EUR 6 million in municipal funds to VIPC Vilnius, a company linked to this businessman, for the takeover of the Trade Union House, which it managed for public use.
There are more connections between Paluckas and Vilčinskas. In 2012, the future Prime Minister purchased a EUR 223,000 home in the capital's Verkių Regional Park from a company headed by the businessman, which he also failed to declare in his 2013 declarations of assets and interests.
The STT launched a pre-trial investigation into the latest information about Prime Minister Paluckas' business connections at the beginning of July.
At the same time, the FNTT is continuing another pre-trial investigation launched at the beginning of June into the information published in the first part of the Siena and Laisvės TV about the company Garnis, partly owned by the Prime Minister, and the preferential loan of EUR 200,000 it received from the national development bank ILTE while the politician was already serving as Prime Minister.
The third journalistic investigation also revealed that in 2012, a Cypriot company sold a flat in the centre of Vilnius to the future prime minister at a loss of EUR 90,000, and that the plot of land on which the building partly owned by the politician stands was formed by Paluckas himself while he was still serving as director of the Vilnius City Municipality Administration.
The Supreme Ethics Commission (VTEK) is continuing its investigation into a possible conflict of interest involving Paluckas.