Lithuania’s Defence Ministry ignored warnings by the State Security Department (VSD) and awarded a multi-million-euro contract to the company Fegda, which has links to the social democrat leader, the Delfi news website reported on Monday.
The €348.35 million contract was awarded to Rudina, a Fegda subsidiary which built a reinforced concrete road for €6.45 million at the Rūdninkai site in 2023, but defects were reported. In late November, the company agreed to correct the defects or construct a new road at its own expense, following independent expert recommendations.
According to Delfi, Rudina is owned by Conres LT and Fegda. The latter is linked to Mindaugas Sinkevičius, chairman of the Social Democratic Party (LSDP), the largest party in the coalition government.
The politician previously worked for the company. His father, MP Rimantas Sinkevičius, is a member of a hunting club together with the company’s shareholder Arvydas Gribulis and Gediminas Gribulis, director of the Fegda Group, which controls the company.
“We confirm that on December 27, 2024, the VSD adopted a decision not to issue a supplier reliability certificate to UAB Fegda for concealing part of the data about itself, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on State and Official Secrets,” VSD, the intelligence service, told Delfi.
The VSD did not specify what data had been concealed.
Last week, the Defence Ministry announced that six Lithuania-based companies were chosen in the tender to build the second stage of the Rūdninkai military base. The contracts, valued at over €1.8 billion, are expected to be signed later this year.
Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas previously said that none of the companies participating in the tender had raised any doubts.
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