A company controlled by the family of Lithuania's former prime minister Gintautas Paluckas promised publicly last summer to repay European Union subsidies it had misused. It never did.
The firm, Dankora, controlled by the then-prime minister's sister-in-law, Virginija Paluckienė, had received more than 170,000 euros from the National Paying Agency (NMA), Lithuania's EU funds distributor, to build electric vehicle and boat charging infrastructure in the coastal village of Drukai. The project was never completed.
According to the NMA, Dankora's deadline to complete the project was July 30, 2025. The day after it passed, journalists from the news site Delfi visited the company's plot in Drukai village and found no charging station, for boats or electric vehicles, had been built.
When it emerged that most of NMA's money had been redirected to Garnis, another Paluckas family business in which the then-prime minister held a 49% stake, the politician said he was unaware that Garnis had business ties with the company managed by his sister-in-law.
Kostas Mikalajunas, the then director of Dankora, also said he did not know that European funds were being directed toward the prime minister's business.
However, Dankora soon publicaly announced it would voluntarily return the funds.
The NMA has now confirmed to the investigative outlet Siena that while Dankora had indeed applied to cancel its grant, the money was never repaid.
By the time Dankora applied to cancel its grant agreement, the NMA had already paid out the majority of the funds – more than 136,000 euros. The agency told Siena that cancellation was only possible upon full repayment – a condition Dankora did not meet.
The NMA subsequently referred the matter to prosecutors and secured a court order freezing Dankora's assets, pending the outcome of a criminal investigation by the Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT).
Background
The Dankora affair was the final scandal that led Gintautas Paluckas to resign as prime minister in July 2025. Journalists at Siena and Laisvės TV had exposed a series of conflicts of interest involving his family's business interests, EU grants, and a preferential loan from the state development bank ILTE.
Both brothers are now suspects
The investigation has also reached beyond the company itself. The General Prosecutor's Office froze property belonging to Danas Paluckas, the former prime minister's brother and now Dankora's director, including a homestead and nearly three hectares of farmland in the Šilutė district.
Reached by phone, Danas Paluckas declined to comment. "I don't want to talk to you. And I don't have to," he said.
Five people have been formally named as suspects in the FNTT investigation, which covers potential credit fraud. Danas Paluckas is among them. A separate inquiry – this one by the Special Investigation Service (STT), into alleged unexplained wealth – has also been opened against the former prime minister himself.
In May, parliament voted to lift his immunity from prosecution. Gintautas Paluckas has said he will contest the allegations through legal channels and has chosen to retain his parliamentary seat.
Garnis, the company at the centre of the original conflict-of-interest allegations, has quietly wound down its operations since the scandal broke.
It vacated its Vilnius office, dismissed all staff, and has not paid taxes since last autumn. Its combined debts to the tax authority and the state social insurance fund Sodra now exceed 30,000 euros.
A bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for 22 June.
