Employees of the Lithuanian pavilion at the prestigious world exhibition EXPO 2020 have accused their managers of mobbing and sexual harassment. They also said their superiors resisted raising the Ukrainian flag in support of the country invaded by Russia.
Six employees appealed to the authorities to investigate and temporarily suspend Romas Jankauskas, the Commissioner General of the Lithuanian pavilion at EXPO 2020 in Dubai, and its director Mantas Svečiulis, from their duties until the investigation is concluded.
“The actions of these individuals not only reflect unprofessionalism and lack of competence but are also ethically, morally, and professionally intolerable and illegal. They are also incompatible with the proper principles of representing Lithuania in the international arena and discredit the name of the country,” the appeal reads.
“We also have serious doubts about the public procurement carried out by the above-mentioned persons and the compliance of their actions with the laws regulating the prevention of corruption,” it added.
According to the appeal, “a number of technical problems have continuously arisen in the Lithuanian pavilion during EXPO 2020”, which made the employees’ work “extremely difficult” and “discredited Lithuania’s name”.
Humiliation and harassment
The employees accused Jankauskas of openly ridiculing them. In one team meeting, he allegedly called the driver of the Lithuanian pavilion “aubergine” (“baklažanas“).
Most of the participants at the pavilion events were also acquaintances of the commissioner, the employees added.
Svečiulis was also accused of a possible conflict of interest. According to the Lithuanian pavilion employees, the director used the official car and driver for personal purposes, such as driving his family and friends around Dubai and returning home after private parties.
“On several occasions, the director instructed specific staff members to meet VIPs and show them around the pavilion, although after brief conversations with the guests, it became apparent that they were […] friends or relatives of the director,” the appeal reads.
Svečiulis was also accused of sexual harassment, disrespectful and unethical behaviour towards employees. According to the appeal, the pavilion director “radically changed the way he dealt with” one female employee after she “refused to be touched and go to his apartment for coffee”.
Another worker quoted Svečiulis, who told her that “Your clothes are very nice, but I have no doubt that you would look beautiful without them too”. The director also introduced to guests one pavilion guide as “our sexiest guide”.
The employees said that Svečiulis used psychological pressure on those who wanted to publicly talk about the problems at the pavilion. He threatened to fire them.
Ukraine and Covid
According to the complainants, they wanted to raise the Ukrainian flag at the Lithuanian pavilion, but the initiative was suppressed by Svečiulis, who claimed that “EXPO 2020 is an apolitical event”. The director himself kept the Russian flag on his desk after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and took it down only at the commissioner’s request.
“The director told the pavilion staff that Ukraine is the “weaker side” and that the Russian pavilion was talking about how “Ukraine provoked them [Russia],” the appeal said.
The employees also stressed that amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Lithuanian pavilion was not disinfected, there was a constant lack of masks and hand sanitiser. When one of the employees contracted coronavirus, the pavilion was not closed, which put workers and visitors at risk, they added.
Terrible conditions
According to pavilion workers, there was no transparency on how the money allocated to the Lithuanian pavilion at EXPO 2020 from the state budget was being used.
“It is hard to comprehend that people who don’t care at all about how Lithuania was represented were chosen as a commissioner and director of the pavilion,” one employee, who wanted to remain anonymous, told LRT.lt.
According to him, the pavilion staff constantly felt “unappreciated and humiliated”. Their work was also hampered by technical problems that were left unresolved.
“The working conditions were terrible also because we had exhibits that were not working during the whole exhibition. They were not fixed, and there was a lot of dissatisfaction when we asked about them. But we had to work with them, and people came and laughed at us because something was not working,” the employee said.
Reject accusations
According to the pavilion commissioner, “Lithuania was as well prepared as ever for this global exhibition”.
"The Pavilion has received many honourable awards, with more than a million visitor and very distinguished delegations,” Jankauskas told LRT.lt
He rejected all the accusations made against him. Jankauskas said he could not give more details while the investigation was ongoing. Svečiulis also denied the accusations and refrained from further comments.
The environment ministry said two commissions were set up on April 13 to investigate the circumstances of the complaint submitted by the EXPO 2020 Lithuanian Pavilion’s employees.
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