„Our first conclusion is that we found a gross violation of the law and determined that he failed to recuse himself. This is a classic conflict of interest. We also found that he failed to update his declaration of private interests promptly,“ Commission Chairman Gediminas Sakalauskas told reporters after the meeting.
„At the board meeting, the political party chairman himself proposed (…) regarding his own car. The second issue is that he signed a contract with himself. The third issue was that he changed the contract term after the contract had been terminated early,“ he said.
The VTEK also decided to refer this situation to the prosecutor’s office.
Susiję straipsniai
„We have decided to initiate administrative proceedings; we will draw up a report of an administrative violation (…). The Commission has doubts regarding the validity of the transaction; therefore, after gathering the facts and arguments, we will forward them to the prosecutor’s office to protect the public interest,“ stated the Commission’s chairman.
„It doesn’t matter what organisation he heads. He should manage the conflict of interest within the organisation. Political parties are public legal entities, and taxpayers’ money should be used for the purposes for which it is intended,“ emphasised Sakalauskas.
The VTEK investigation into the politician’s car lease began in early February. However, in mid-March, the commission decided to expand it.
Shortly after launching the investigation, the commission stated that it would assess whether the leader of the Nemuno Aušra party, by entering into these transactions and failing to declare them in his declaration of private interests, had violated the law requiring the avoidance of conflicts of interest and the declaration of transactions exceeding EUR 3,000.
For its part, the Central Election Commission (VRK) acknowledged in March that Nemuno Aušra had grossly violated the law regarding the car leases. Subsequently, due to this situation, it was decided not to award the party a semi-annual subsidy exceeding EUR 240,000. The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (LVAT) has already accepted the Nemuno Aušra party’s appeal against this decision for review.
The Central Election Commission (VRK) found that Nemuno Aušra violated the procedures of the Financial Accounting Law when it transferred nearly EUR 50,000 to Žemaitaitis and Daiva Petkevičienė for their car rentals. It is noted that state budget appropriations were thus used for purposes other than those intended, and the data presented in the financial statements were incorrect.
ELTA notes that in early February, the civic initiative Viešpirkiai announced a car rental contract signed by Nemuno Aušra on January 17, 2024, worth EUR 31,500. It was valid until November 13 of the same year, but was only made public on January 29 of this year. The contract shows that the buyer is Nemuno Aušra and the supplier is party leader Žemaitaitis.