Lithuania’s anti-corruption agency, the Special Investigation Service (STT), will not launch a separate investigation into a soft loan received by the prime minister’s company from the national development bank.
The 200,000-euro loan to Garnis, which is 49-percent owned by Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, is already under investigation by the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT).
“Based on a decision by the European Prosecutor, an STT officer has now been included in a pre-trial investigation being conducted by the FNTT,” the agency’s spokeswoman Dovilė Andrijauskaitė told LRT RADIO on Monday. “The FNTT has launched a pre-trial investigation into the soft loan received from the national development bank ILTE. The European Prosecutor has decided to include an STT officer in this investigation.”
The investigative journalism centre Siena and Laisvės TV reported in late May that Garnis, which plans to produce battery systems, received a 200,000-euro soft loan from ILTE after Paluckas had already taken office.
The prime minister owns 49 percent of Garnis. In February and March, the government made several decisions related to ILTE with his participation.
Paluckas also owns 51 percent of another company, Emus, which would not have qualified for the loan from ILTE under the programme meant to support new businesses.
Questions have also been raised publicly about whether Garnis was founded as a front to obtain the loan and whether the company is using the funds as intended.
The prime minister has denied any conflict of interest and says he is not involved in his companies’ day-to-day operations.
Earlier this month, the FNTT launched a pre-trial investigation into the loan received by Garnis. The agency then said that the probe concerned possible credit fraud.
“At this stage of the pre-trial investigation, no formal suspicions have been brought against anyone. The pre-trial investigation is being led and supervised by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office,” the FNTT said at the time.
Moreover, the Chief Official Ethics Commission is investigating whether Paluckas had a conflict of interest when he made decisions related to ILTE.
In addition, Garnis is also under scrutiny by the State Tax Inspectorate.
Meanwhile, ILTE, the national development bank, conducted an internal review of the loan and said it did not uncover any irregularities.
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