There is no evidence that Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis had a conflict of interest when the government directed funds to pave a street near his home, an ethics watchdog has concluded.
Last October, the Cabinet approved additional funding of 300,000 euros for roads in Vilnius District. 15min.lt then reported that all the money went toward paving the street where Skvernelis and his family live.
Read more: Lithuanian PM faces pressure over 300,000-euro street paving near his home
A probe was opened in mid December and extended for another three months in March.
On Thursday, the Chief Official Ethics Commission (VTEK) dropped the investigation, concluding that the prime minister could not have known the funding would go to the street where he lives.
“There is no sufficiently strong evidence to say there was a conflict of interests in this situation,” according to the commission's senior investigator Tomas Čaplinskas.
Prime Minister Skvernelis welcomed the decision.
“I am really glad that the final legal assessment has been made in this case, I had no doubt about it from day one,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader said the decision to drop the case, rather than acquit the prime minister, was strange.
“To my knowledge, the VTEK rarely makes decisions to drop investigations. While reading the provided material, one may wonder why the prime minister was not acquitted, why this issue was left hanging,” said Gabrielius Landsbergis from the conservative Homeland Union.
The commission's report also said the investigation might be picked up again, if new evidence emerged, according to Landsbergis. “That also raises questions [...]. Is it possible that this information does exist?” he added.
Meanwhile President Gitanas Nausėda commented that the decision would not convince ordinary voters.
“We must respect the conclusion of a state-mandated institution [VTEK]” but politicians must be held to a higher standard, he commented on Facebook.
As long as the state cannot pave all the roads important to voters, priority given to the prime minister's neighbourhood will raise doubts, he said.
“No one will be able to convince them [voters] that everything is fine here,” according to Nausėda.
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