Lithuania’s defence minister has cancelled a 22.8-million-euro contract to purchase anti-tank mines from Eksplosita, a company linked to the Fegda Group, amid scrutiny of the procurement process, the Defence Ministry said Thursday.
Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas made the decision after media reports, questions raised by law enforcement authorities and identified risks related to the timely supply of the armed forces, the ministry said.
Kaunas also plans to take the matter to court, though the ministry did not provide further details.
The contract with Eksplosita was signed December 4 and was the only agreement the Defence Materiel Agency had concluded with the company.
On January 8, Kaunas instructed the ministry’s Corruption Prevention and Investigation Department to immediately review the circumstances surrounding the selection of suppliers involved in the anti-tank mine procurement after reports questioned the transparency of the process.
“In order not to prejudice judicial proceedings, the Defence Ministry is refraining from commenting further,” the ministry said in a statement.
In mid-December, the ministry announced plans to purchase anti-tank mines and first-person-view, or FPV, drone munitions for more than 30 million euros to strengthen Lithuania’s defence capabilities.
Under that plan, 22.8 million euros were to be spent on anti-bottom and anti-track mines from Eksplosita, while 9 million euros were allocated for the purchase of fragmentation, explosively formed penetrator and shaped-charge FPV drone payloads from Lithuanian manufacturer LTMilTech.
The news website Delfi.lt reported earlier this month that Eksplosita is controlled by Milsa, a shareholder of the Fegda Group, and that the company had previously focused primarily on quarry-related work, beginning development of explosives and ammunition production only last year.
Business registry data published by Rekvizitai show that Eksplosita employs only one worker.
Following the reports, the Defence Ministry launched an internal review, and the Special Investigation Service began examining the circumstances surrounding the procurement.
Fegda in 2023 built a reinforced concrete road to the Rūdninkai training area that was later found to have defects. Rudina, a company jointly owned by Fegda and Conres LT, has since won a portion of a Defence Ministry tender to build the Rūdninkai military campus.
Mindaugas Sinkevičius, chairman of the ruling Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, has previously held a senior executive position at Fegda.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
