Adomas Bužinskas, the current head of the Vilnius City Municipality Administration, rented a Ford Mustang convertible during a business trip to Miami last year and claimed reimbursements for a drive to a local tourist spot, Delfi.lt has reported.
Bužinskas, at the time a deputy director of the administration, travelled to the International Smart City Expo in Miami, US, alongside the then head of administration, Lina Koriznienė, between September 10-17.
Delfi.lt got hold of their expenses report from the week-long trip. The documents show that, although the two stayed in a hotel only 400 metres from the exhibition venue, Bužinskas rented a Ford Mustang convertible for the entire duration of the stay and drove 832 kilometres over six days.
Moreover, on September 12, when Bužinskas and Koriznienė were due to attend the opening events in Miami, the car was parked in Key West, an island town in south Florida.
“We should not have gone there, and that is our mistake, and an even bigger mistake was to report the expenses as travel expenses in the first place. That is really unfortunate and we thank you for spotting our mistake. We should not have gone and when we did, we should not have claimed reimbursements, and I am very sorry about that,” Bužinskas told Delfi.lt.
According to the municipality, Bužinskas and Koriznienė returned 243 euros related to their trip to Key West.
According to the municipality, the total cost of the trip to the US was 10,900 euros.
In recent months, a number of Lithuania’s municipalities released expense reports of local politicians, revealing widespread abuse.
