MAA asks to investigate possible corruption of the former director of Lietuvos žirgyne

The Ministry of Agriculture (MAA) has appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office to open a pre-trial investigation into the possible corruption of the former Director of the Lietuvos žirgynas“Lietuvos žirgynas“, Felicia Kelmickaitė, who has resigned from her position.

The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed to Elta that after receiving a request from the director of the stud farm, Felicia Kelmickaitė, who had been in charge of the stud farm for almost a year, the board of the "Lietuvos žirgynas“" dismissed her from her position on Wednesday. Saulius Tarasauskas, the deputy director, is temporarily in charge of the stud, and a new competition for a new manager is expected to be announced within a few months.

„Ministry of Agriculture (….), having reasonable suspicions that (…) a large amount of the Company's („Lietuvos žirgynas“ – ELTA) property (possibly also by committing criminal acts of a corrupt nature), thereby causing damage not only to the Company but also to the State, appeals to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Lithuania to open a pre-trial investigation," reads Wednesday's appeal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (ŽŪM), which was made available to ELTA.

The pre-trial investigation into the activities of the stud farm is requested to be opened under the articles of the Criminal Code on embezzlement of property, abuse, bribery, influence peddling and bribery.

Requests an investigation into the possible patronage of a specific company by F. Kelmickaitė

„Lietuvos žirgynas“ signed a service contract worth EUR 9,000 with the land management company „Topokada“ in April last year, of which EUR 3,500 should have been paid in advance only after the contract was signed. 

According to the MAE, this contract has the characteristics of a possible criminal favouring of the company in question – allegedly, without the knowledge of the Board, F. Kelmickaitė had ordered to draw up a project for the redevelopment of the land plots of the stud farm in Rieste, Vilnius, without the knowledge of the Board, and to abandon the stud farm altogether.

„It creates a situation that UAB „Topokada“ provides services to the Company– regarding the preparation of the project for the redevelopment of the formation of land plots of the land of the Vilnius subdivision and the abandonment of the Vilnius subdivision itself and the circumstances of the proposed sale, thus creating damage  to the Company or the State“, – the Ministry points out.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Ms Kelmickaitė has created preconditions for the creation of irrational and inadequately sized plots of state land for the exploitation of the stud farm's buildings.

„If the sale of the Company's Vilnius Branch buildings were to be completed, the new owner of these buildings would have the right to apply to the relevant authorities for the acquisition of the land (…) tenure rights. Such a scenario would create preconditions for a possible takeover of state assets – high-value state land plots –, as the said state land plots, due to their irrational boundaries, could potentially not be used for other purposes and would eventually fall into the hands of private persons, “ the letter explains.

As it is pointed out, at the time when Ms Kelmicka initiated these processes, the Board had not yet taken any decisions or considered that it was the Vilnius branch of the stud farm that was to be abandoned, not the Nemunas or Sartai branches.

In addition, when Board members started to raise questions about Ms Kelmickaitė's actions and to ask for information about the sale of the Rieste stud farm, the Director allegedly "refused to provide the information and informed that she had slipped unsuccessfully and was on sick leave".

Contract – possible procurement irregularities

Under the contract, "Topokada“ was to draw up land-use plans for one of the plots of land at the stud farm: cadastral data files for the cadastral identification of immovable property, to identify the part of the plot necessary for the operation of the buildings located there and to carry out the design of the reconstruction of the formation of this part. 

In its letter to the General Prosecutor's Office, however, the MAA argues that the contract was not signed by the stud farm in accordance with the legislation on public procurement; no technical specifications were attached to the contract, so it is not clear what services and to what extent the stud farm has ordered the services of "Topokada". 

It is also reported that in October 2024, the stud farm also concluded an additional contract with „Topokada“ for an additional €3,000 (excluding VAT), which may also have violated public procurement procedures by failing to properly formalise the amendment of the contract.

It is reported that after F. Kelmickaitė became the manager of „Lietuvos žirgynas“ on 1 March last year, the contract with „Topokada“ was signed a month later, on 15 April.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, data from the information system for the preparation of land management planning documents show that the project for the redevelopment of the Vilnius branch had already been started on 15 May, but the stud farm's board did not learn of the plans to give up the Riese branch until a few months later, at the end of August.

„ This is confirmed by the information in the Board minutes that the intention and proposal to abandon the Company's Vilnius branch is nowhere recorded in the previous Board minutes“, – the Ministry points out.

In addition, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, „Lietuvos žirgynas“ has a large amount of debts, the company lacks working capital, despite which the former head of the stud farm decided on her own initiative to buy the services of redevelopment of the land plot for EUR 9,000.

The planned sale was announced back in January

At the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Board of "Lietuvos žirgynas“" suspended the sale of the Rieste stud farm this January, pending a reassessment of the company's financial situation, the risks of the financial commitments assumed, and a discussion of the options for optimising the stud farm's operations. 

FA is the main shareholder of the stud farm, owning 89.6% of the shares.

As reported by the portal „Delfi“, „Lietuvos žirgynas“ is planning to sell the Vilnius branch in Rieste, with a total value of more than 1.3 million euros.

The company currently has three branches in Rieste, Dusety and Pagėgiai.

As ELTA previously reported, at the end of January, the media reported that the independent board of the Ministry of Agriculture's „Lietuvos žirgynas“ may have been pressured by the ministry to dismiss the former head of the stud farm, F. Kelmickaitė.

As reported by LRT, Genadijus Vorobjovas, a current adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, Ignas Hofmanis, is being prepared to replace Kelmickaitė as head of the company.