Saulius Skvernelis, Kazis Starkevičius to be questioned as special witnesses in corruption investigation
In the course of investigating possible systemic corruption in the State Service for Plant Breeding, law enforcement authorities have decided to question the members of the Seimas Saulius Skvernelis and Kazis Starkevičius as special witnesses.
The announcement was made on Monday by Artūras Urbelis, Chief Prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office.
„I can also say that on 5 February (...) there were decisions taken by the prosecutor to question members of the Seimas who have legal immunity as persons who can testify about criminal acts they may have committed“,“ he said at a press conference.
The prosecutor did not say whether the opposition conservatives' spokesman, former Agriculture Minister K. Starkevičius, and the leader of the opposition Democratic Union of Lithuania „Vardan Lietuvos“, S. Skvernelis, had already been questioned.
A person is interviewed as a special witness when law enforcement is interested in his or her own actions, but there is no available evidence to make allegations about his or her actions, or it is not possible to do so because of the person's legal immunity.
According to the Constitution, members of the Seimas may be prosecuted only with the authorisation of the Seimas.
The chief prosecutor said he could not yet say whether there were plans to appeal to parliament to lift the legal immunity of MPs.
„In order to apply to the Parliament, we need to have data that would allow us to prepare and draft a report on the investigation in a pre-trial investigation, and to submit this data to the Prosecutor General. Therefore, this issue is premature, because today, those data are being collected and analysed, and other items and documents have been obtained as a result of the proceedings, which must be analysed. And only after assessing all the circumstances will the prosecutor who organises and leads the pre-trial investigation decide whether to refer the matter to the Prosecutor General," he said.
According to Mr Urbelis, one of the theories being investigated is that of possible „political favours in the exercise of powers“ in the context of systemic corruption.„One of the versions – that political favour could have been behind the whole functioning of such a mechanism in the systemic corruption, and in order to verify these findings, a series of procedural actions, both in terms of coercive measures and other procedural actions“ have been carried out, – said the Prosecutor.
According to the Chief Prosecutor, the searches carried out on Monday at the workplaces and homes of the MPs, as well as other procedural actions, were pre-planned, in order to confirm the generalised data obtained during the pre-trial investigation, and to verify the theories put forward.
„Among them there are also persons who have criminal experience, that is, they have been recognized by the courts as having committed criminal acts“, – said the official.
BNS previously wrote that in the course of the above-mentioned investigation, suspicions have been raised against the head of the Plant Breeding Service, Yuri Kornijenko, his deputy, Mantas Bata, advisers of the Service, Aurelius Šapranauskas and Agne Silickiene, head of the Kaunas regional department, Dalia Šubonienė, head of the regional department of the Service in Alytus, Giedrius Urbelionis.
According to the investigation, large bribes were systematically demanded and received from representatives of companies transporting plants and plant products for phytosanitary certificates issued by the Plant Protection Service to the transporters of such goods.
During previous searches, €1.3 million in cash, eight kilograms of gold worth around €1 million, explosives and cocaine were found.
Agriculture Minister Andrius Palionis has said that suspicions of possible corruption in the Plant Breeding Service were raised as early as last spring.
K. Starkevičius was the Minister of Agriculture in August and December 2024, a position he also held in 2008 and 2012. In 2020–2024, he was chairman of the Seimas Committee on Economic Affairs, having previously served as vice-chairman of the Committee on Rural Affairs.
The portfolio of Minister of Agriculture currently belongs to „Nemunas aušra“.
At the time, one of the suspects in the case, A. Silickienė, was an advisor to S. Skvernelis as Speaker of the Seimas.
Similar articles
Video
