Lithuanian lawmakers on Tuesday endorsed the conclusions of the temporary Seimas commission that looked into the State Security Department’s (VSD) whistleblower case.
In total, 64 MPs voted in favour of the conclusions, 42 against, and 10 abstained.
The temporary parliamentary commission, headed by MP Vytautas Bakas of the Union of Democrats “For Lithuania”, concluded after its five-month inquiry that Nausėda was vulnerable and may have broken his oath of office by refusing to answer the panel’s questions.
“I would like to thank both the commission and the Seimas for allowing this very important investigation to take place,” Bakas said before the vote.
“The Seimas must take the side of the rule of law and moral politics. I call on us not to create a precedent where the aim is to destroy confidence in the whistleblower institution and the practice of the special services to ignore parliamentary scrutiny and interfere in political processes,” he added.
The Seimas commission concluded that VSD director Darius Jauniškis had assisted Nausėda in doing background checks on his team members and supporters in 2019 when he was first running for president.
The commission also concluded that the list of individuals to be checked was given to the intelligence service by Nausėda himself, either directly or through an intermediary.
The document also alleges that Linas Pernavas, head of the Lithuanian Special Investigation Service (STT), abused his duties by withholding information from parliamentarians about a criminal intelligence investigation related to the VSD whistleblower’s case and that Jauniškis provided misleading information to the inquiry commission.
The adoption of these conclusions was initially planned for mid-May but was postponed twice – once because of the presidential election, to avoid criticism that it was intended to undermine Nausėda’s re-election bid, and again because of a lack of votes.
On May 26, Nausėda was re-elected for a second term.
The heads of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the VSD, and the STT accuse the commission of bias, overstepping its authority, and exerting pressure.
The heads of the services therefore lodged a complaint against the inquiry panel with the Parliamentary Commission for Ethics and Procedures. The latter found that the Statute of the Seimas and the Code of Conduct for State Politicians were violated during the parliamentary inquiry.
Also, the legality of the establishment of the commission has been challenged in the Constitutional Court.
The commission was set up following the publication of the book The Whistleblower and the President by investigative journalists Birutė Davidonytė and Dovydas Pancerovas in early 2023. Part of the book is based on the accounts of the VSD whistleblower Tomas Gailius.
Nausėda earlier called the commission’s establishment and its conclusions politically motivated and said they had to do with the presidential election.
On Tuesday, the president said that the people of Lithuania showed what they think about the whistleblower commission during the recent presidential election.
“The people of Lithuania made their opinion on the Bakas commission’s efforts very clear in the last election. It is a bit funny and sad that an institution with the lowest level of public trust in Lithuania evaluates an institution with the highest level of public trust, so draw your own conclusions,” he said.
A Vilmorus poll showed in March that 40 percent of respondents trusted the presidential institution. Meanwhile, almost 11 percent had trust in the parliament.
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