Šarūnas Narbutas, who is suspected of influence peddling and taking a hefty sum for mediation in the Lithuanian government's purchase of Covid-19 tests, has rejected accusations, calling charges against him a “legal experiment”.
Narbutas, who is the president of the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Coalition (POLA), was detained earlier this week in an investigation by the Special Investigation Service (STT) into the 5-million-euro deal concluded in March.
Read more: Lithuanian cancer NGO head under arrest for exploiting coronavirus tests purchase
“I view it as some kind of legal experiment by the STT. It seems that any legal economic activity in Lithuania may lead to [officials] knocking on your door,” Narbutas told reporters on Wednesday.
He said he did not do anything illegal.
Vilnius City District Court decided on Wednesday to place Narbutas under house arrest for a month and prohibited him from communicating with a number of individuals, including Health Ministry officials.
Narbutas is suspected of acting as an unofficial intermediary between a foreign company and Lithuania's authorities that were scrambling to purchase a large amount of components for Covid-19 tests after the coronavirus pandemic hit in March.
The investigation has found that more than 300,000 euros were transferred in several transactions into Narbutas' personal bank account after the procurement procedure was completed, STT has said.
Narbutas said he received the money legitimately as “a reward for commercial representation”. He said he acted as the company's agent under a contract signed in early March.
“The contract was concluded on March 1. It did not specify Lithuania [as the buyer], but set a specific quota of 300,000 reagents for sale in the European Union, because talks were also underway with Slovakia and, I think, Finland and Belgium,” he said.
According to Narbutas, the Spanish company was not the only potential supplier he informed the Health Ministry about.
“I provided the ministry with information about at least four different suppliers: from South Korea, China and Turkey. It was the ministry that made the choice,” he said.
According to information available to BNS, the investigation is looking into two contracts signed by the National Public Health Laboratory (NVSPL) with Spain's PMS International on March 21 and 23.
Based on information on the central public procurement website, the laboratory signed two contracts, worth 3.5 million euros and 1.8 million euros, on Covid-19 test products.
The contracts on the supply of testing reagents were signed by Vytautas Zimnickas, the then director of the NVSPL who passed away a week ago, and a PMS International representative whose name was not printed under the signature.
Under the contracts, some of the money was to be transferred to China's Sansure Biotech, the manufacturer of the reagents.
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