Šarūnas Stepukonis, a former BaltCap Infrastructure Fund partner suspected of embezzling millions of euros, has been detained and questioned by Lithuanian law enforcement, news website 15min reported on Monday.
The fact of Stepukonis’ detention was confirmed by European Delegated Prosecutor Darius Karčinskas, who is conducting the ongoing pre-trial investigations into this case.
“I can confirm that suspect Stepukonis has been detained,” he said.
On Monday, the Vilnius City District Court allowed the arrest of Stepukonis for two weeks, court spokesperson Giedrius Janonis confirmed to BNS.
According to Karčinskas, the Prosecutor’s Office had asked for Stepukonis to be arrested for two months, but there are no grounds to appeal the court’s decision.
“In two weeks, after procedural steps, we will decide whether the grounds for the arrest have not expired and, if there are grounds, we will appeal for an extension of the arrest period,” he told BNS.
According to 15min, Stepukonis had been staying in Ukraine for some time. He returned to Lithuania voluntarily and was detained on Saturday.
The Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) is conducting two pre-trial investigations against Stepukonis. In one of them, he has been identified as a suspect for misappropriating more than 27 million euros.
Another pre-trial investigation, which was closed in 2022, was reopened last week in connection with a transfer of 3.9 million euros to Stepukonis from a Polish company for the alleged sale of shares.
A decision is currently being taken on whether to merge these investigations. Both are being carried out by the FNTT and monitored by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Stepukonis is believed to have lost at least part of the embezzled money in a casino.
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