A company that received more than €170,000 in European Union funding and is now owned by Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas’ sister-in-law spent most of the money on equipment purchased from another company co-owned by the prime minister, according to claims published by public figure Andrius Tapinas on his Substack blog.
The company, Dankora, based in the Klaipėda District, was awarded nearly €173,000 last year through the EU’s LEADER program, which is administered in Lithuania by the National Paying Agency. The funds were allocated to develop electric vehicle and boat charging infrastructure in the village of Drukiai.
Dankora was originally owned by Kostas Mikalajūnas, who later sold his shares to Virginija Paluckienė, the wife of the prime minister’s brother. Paluckienė also serves as director of the Palanga Resort Museum.
In February, Dankora issued a tender to purchase battery systems and two inverters. The only company to win the bid was Garnis, in which Paluckas holds a 49% stake. The remaining 51% is owned by his business partner, Mindaugas Milašauskas.
Garnis, which was also founded last year, is already under investigation following an earlier journalistic report by the Siena investigative journalism centre and Laisvės TV, a media platform founded by Tapinas. That investigation revealed Garnis had received a €200,000 soft loan from Lithuania’s national development bank, ILTE, while Paluckas was already serving as prime minister.
Paluckas and Milašauskas also co-own another company, Emus, which operates in a similar sector. Investigators are now examining whether the ILTE loan to Garnis was improperly diverted to benefit Emus. The latter was reportedly ineligible for a soft loan due to its operational history.
The Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT) is currently reviewing the loan and procurement procedures involving Garnis. Meanwhile, the Chief Official Ethics Commission is conducting a separate probe into whether Paluckas should have recused himself from government decisions related to ILTE.
These investigations add to mounting scrutiny of the prime minister’s business and financial history, which has become a focal point of political pressure from the opposition in recent weeks.
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