Lithuania’s Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė on Wednesday asked the parliament to strip liberal MP Andrius Bagdonas of his legal immunity to face charges as part of the so-called “receipt” case.
Bagdonas would be charged with document forgery, possession of a forged document, fraud and abuse of his official position, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
Bagdonas is mentioned in the pre-trial investigation related to the activities of members of the Neringa Municipality Council in 2019–2023.
The politician served as a local councillor from 2019 to 2020 before he was elected to parliament in October 2020 and re-elected earlier this year.
Bagdonas said in a Facebook post on Wednesday that he was “surprised by today’s decision of the Prosecutor’s Office to open a case” but promised to cooperate with law enforcement.
Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, leader of the Liberal Movement, said she will urge Bagdonas to waive his immunity in a simplified procedure, as well as suspend his party membership.
“All measures should be taken to ensure that the work of law enforcement is not delayed in any way,” she told BNS on Wednesday. “[I would urge] him to make a statement waiving his immunity so that the procedure in the Seimas would be simplified.”
According to the Lithuanian constitution, a parliament member may not be prosecuted or otherwise have their freedom restricted without the consent of the Seimas.
The law enforcement authorities in Lithuania opened dozens of investigations into the misuse of allowances for local politicians after Andrius Tapinas, a journalist and public figure, started publishing the expenses of councillors of various municipalities, sparking the so-called “receipt scandal”.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
