Thirteen people, including the head of Lithuania’s State Plant Service and several senior officials, have been charged in a large-scale corruption investigation involving an estimated 1.5 million euros in bribes, the Prosecutor General’s Office said Wednesday.
Those charged include Jurij Kornijenko, head of the State Plant Service, other employees of the agency and private individuals, prosecutors said. Seven executives of private companies and related individuals have also been charged, according to a joint statement by the Special Investigation Service (STT) and the Prosecutor General’s Office.
“The suspects include sufficiently high-ranking civil servants,” Artūras Urbelis, chief prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department, told a news conference. “There are also private individuals who participated in the uncovered complex bribery scheme.”
Investigators allege that representatives of companies transporting plants and plant products were systematically required to pay bribes to obtain phytosanitary certificates issued by the State Plant Service.
“A phytosanitary certificate is a document that allows an economic operator transporting products of plant origin to ensure legal import into third countries,” said Dainius Januška, head of the STT Central Investigation Board. “The certificate confirms compliance with phytosanitary requirements. Bribes were paid to ensure the quick and smooth issuance of these certificates.”
Prosecutors estimate the total value of bribes at about 1.5 million euros. Urbelis said the sums involved exceeded 12,500 euros in individual cases, constituting serious criminal offenses under Lithuanian law.
The pretrial investigation was launched October 1 based on STT intelligence. Urbelis described it as an unprecedented corruption probe. A large-scale operation was carried out December 11, during which suspects were detained and investigative actions conducted.
Of the 13 people detained, six were remanded in custody for one to two months. The remaining suspects were released under lighter measures, including intensive supervision, written pledges not to leave the country and the seizure of documents.
Authorities conducted more than 100 searches, seizing about 1.3 million euros in cash, eight kilograms of gold valued at roughly 1 million euros, as well as explosives and cocaine, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found large quantities of excise goods, including more than 11,000 packs of cigarettes and nearly 14,000 litres of alcohol without Lithuanian excise stamps, along with suspected narcotics and explosives.
