Lithuania’s State Tax Inspectorate (VMI) has completed its checks of Garnis, a company co-owned by Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, and has not found any irregularities, the tax watchdog told BNS on Wednesday.
“Following swift checks of Garnis, the State Tax Inspectorate has found no tax violations,” Rūta Asadauskaitė, head of the VMI’s Strategic Communication Unit, told BNS on Wednesday.
Checks of Garnis, which is 49-percent owned by Paluckas, was initiated by the tax watchdog in mid-June following a request from Laurynas Kasčiūnas, opposition MP and leader of the conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD) party.
“The swift inspection looked into whether the client had kept its accounts in compliance with all the requirements,” Asadauskaitė said, adding that the VMI only checked the financial accounting procedures of Garnis, which did not include another company, Emus, also co-owned by Paluckas.
A journalistic investigation into the 200,000-euro soft loan granted to Garnis by the national development bank ILTE sparked theories that the money lent to Garnis might have actually been used by Emus.
In May, the Siena Centre for Investigative Journalism and Laisvės TV reported that Garnis, which is developing battery systems, had received a soft loan while Paluckas was already prime minister.
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Questions were then raised whether Garnis had been set up specifically to obtain the loan under a programme aimed at supporting startups. Critics also questioned whether the company was using the loaned funds for their intended purpose.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) and the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) are conducting a pre-trial investigation into possible credit fraud in this story.
Meanwhile, the Chief Official Ethics Commission is investigating whether Paluckas confused public and private interests when the prime minister made decisions related to ILTE despite the loan received by Garnis from the national development bank.
Last Sunday, the Siena Centre for Investigative Journalism and Laisvės TV published a follow-up to its investigation, looking into Paluckas’ business dealings from more than a decade ago.
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