According to a study conducted by Redakcija, when Paluckas was dismissed from his position as Director of the Vilnius City Administration in 2009, he was replaced by his political ally, Social Democrat Vytautas Milėnas. In September of the same year, he signed an order for the formation of a plot of land in the capital, on Laurų Street. The plot was intended for the restoration of property to people who had lost their land during the Soviet era.
Data collected by the editorial office shows that in November 2009, ownership of the plot was restored to two citizens, and a month later, the plot was transferred to their heirs. In the same month, the plot was purchased by Paluckas and Genovaitė Arlauskienė, each paying EUR 17,000.
According to Redakcija, in 2011, the State Forest Service established that most of the plot in question was occupied by a forest of national importance, which could not be privatised. The Nemenčinė Forest Enterprise turned to the prosecutor's office, requesting that it defend the public interest. Taking into account the information provided by the forestry administration, the prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit in 2011, requesting that the Vilnius City Municipality's decisions regarding the formation of the plot on Laurų Street and the plot purchase agreement be declared illegal.
In 2014, the Vilnius City District Court upheld the prosecutor's claim and ruled that the decisions relating to the plot had been taken in violation of the law. The court annulled the documents that made Paluckas the owner of the plot. In the same year, this decision was upheld by the Vilnius Regional Court, a higher court. The illegally privatised forest was returned to the state. As reported by Redakcija, Paluckas and Arlauskienė own only slightly more than 1 acre of land on the plot. However, in this case, the court applied restitution – the state had to return the money for the purchased forest to the owners of the plot, so Paluckas and Arlauskienė were awarded more than EUR 5,000 each.
In response to questions from the editorial office, Paluckas stated that he had not participated in the municipality's decisions on the formation of the plot on Laurų Street.
„I respect valid court decisions; court decisions must be enforced, not evaluated. There was a legal dispute, and this decision is public,“ Paluckas told Redakcija.
ELTA reminds that this is not the first journalistic investigation into Paluckas' transactions, acquired property, and business connections.
The latest investigation by Siena and Laisvės TV revealed that Prime Minister Paluckas finally compensated the Vilnius City Municipality just a few weeks ago, in 2012, for the damages awarded by the Lithuanian Supreme Court in the so-called „rat case.“ The politician paid the last EUR 4,900 on July 8 this year. In total, he was ordered to pay just over 57,000 litas (approximately EUR 16,500).
However, the investigation reveals that Paluckas had agreed with the municipality to pay in instalments, with the damages to be paid in full by the end of 2015. However, the politician did not adhere to the agreed schedule – in May 2014, he transferred 40,000 litas (approximately EUR 11,500) to the municipal budget, and no further transfers were made.
The Prime Minister's advisor, Justinas Argustas, claimed that the situation had arisen due to a careless human error.
For its part, Vilnius City Council said that due to the delay in compensation, the Prime Minister had been charged approximately EUR 3,700 in interest, which he would have to pay. The Head of Government's advisor said that Paluckas would do so shortly.
However, the latest journalistic investigation has sparked discussions about Paluckas' political future, raising the question of whether the Social Democrat, who has not compensated the municipality for the damage, could be elected in the 2024 parliamentary elections. Article 11 of the Election Code stipulates that a person cannot be elected to a relevant position if they have not completed their sentence or served their criminal penalty.
The Central Election Commission (VRK) stated that it had no information about the future Prime Minister's unpaid damages before the October parliamentary elections. Therefore, according to VRK Chair Lina Petronienė, there were no obstacles to registering the Social Democrat as a candidate in the polls.
The first investigation by Siena and Laisvės TV revealed that Garnis, a company partly owned by the Prime Minister, received a EUR 200,000 loan from the national development bank, ILTE. The agreement was concluded while the politician was already serving as head of the government.
The second part of the journalistic investigation raises questions about the company that developed a lake bottom topography application, which was controlled by the head of government until 2018.
The investigation indicates that 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.
When investigating where the Prime Minister lived before purchasing the flat, journalists revealed in their third investigation that in 2012, a Cypriot company sold a flat in the centre of Vilnius to Paluckas at a significantly reduced price. The plot of land on which the building, partly owned by the politician, stands was formed by the Prime Minister himself when he was still mayor of Vilnius. Sold a flat in the centre of Vilnius to Paluckas at a low price, and the plot of land on which the building, partly owned by the politician, stands was formed by the Prime Minister himself when he was still Director of the Vilnius City Municipality Administration.
The Financial Crime Investigation Service launched a pre-trial investigation into the use of the loan received by Garnis, and Paluckas was questioned as a witness.
Both ILTE and the State Tax Inspectorate conducted audits of the loan granted to Garnis, but no violations were found in either case.