They knew, but didn't stop: why did the NMA and the MAA wake up only after the scandal?

After a 15min investigation into possible sham training of farmers, law enforcement launched a pre-trial investigation and Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė dismissed her public advisor Vigilijus Juknas. Meanwhile, the National Paying Agency (NPA) has announced that it is suspending payments under the measure "Training and skills acquisition".

However, additional answers received by Agrobite.lt from the NMA and the Ministry of Agriculture (MAA) raise new questions – not only have millions of euro been revealed for the organisers of the trainings, but also the fact that the agency itself had already identified the possible risk of fictitious trainings at the end of last year. What's more, until now, the control of training has relied mainly on documents, while real monitoring, filming or recording of participants was only introduced in April this year.

Public enterprise „Scientific Services“ – more than €1.4 million

NMA Agrobite.lt has reported that the Public Enterprise „Mokslinės paslaugos“ associated with Vigilijus Jukna has received more than €1.4 million in support through various training measures.

According to the Agency:

• €1 076 819 has been paid to the institution under the Rural Development 2014-2020 measure „Training programmes“;

• under the 2023–2027 Strategic Plan measure „Training and skills acquisition“ – a further EUR 368 528.

A total of 10 projects have been funded in different periods – 6 projects under the previous RDP programme and 4 projects under the current Strategic Plan instrument. In 2025 alone, advances of €105.9 thousand were paid to two projects.

NMA: risks identified as early as end of 2025

One of the key responses from the NMA – the agency acknowledged that it had identified the potential risk of fictitious training as late as the end of 2025.

„A general report was received that training may have been organised and declared for support that did not actually take place“, – the NMA stated.

The measure „Training and skills acquisition“ was then included in the list of the most risky measures and proposals were made to the MAA to tighten controls. However, it was not until 14 April this year that real changes came into force.

No mandatory filming or real-time monitoring until April

The NMA confirmed that until now, training organisers were not obliged to film training, take photographs of participants or make it possible to monitor training in real time. The Agency acknowledged that such requirements were simply not foreseen in the rules.

„The rules for the implementation of the measure did not foresee such requirements, and consequently such control measures could not be applied“, – the reply stated. Prior to the amendments to the rules, controls were mainly based on attendance registers, lists of participants who had completed the courses and other documents, and on-the-spot checks of part of the training.

Verifications took place, but...

NMA also provided data on physical verifications at training courses organised by Public Enterprise "Scientific Services". According to the Agency:

• 8 physical checks were carried out in 2023;

• 8 physical and 1 remote in 2024;

• 2025 – 3 physical and 1 remote.

There are currently 22 verifications across the whole measure in 2024–2025 – 17 physical and 5 remote. This means that a significant proportion of all verifications related specifically to training organised by „Scientific Services“. However, even after the checks, the Agency has so far only detected irregularities of an administrative nature, such as the failure to publish training schedules on time, the failure to upload data to the HMIS on time, or inconsistencies regarding the share of young farmers in the projects.

FMA: suspension of all payments and refusal of new applications considered

The MAFF has confirmed to Agrobite.lt that following the controversy, all payments of support funds under the intervention measure "Training and skills acquisition" have been suspended. According to the Ministry, all payments for ongoing projects are currently suspended. Furthermore, the new call for applications in 2026 is being considered to be scrapped altogether.

„A change in the timetable for receiving applications for Strategic Plan interventions is scheduled to be discussed on 14/05/2026, proposing to abandon the call for applications for the intervention „Training and skills acquisition“ in 2026“, – the ministry stated.

According to the MAF, the decision to suspend payments was taken by the Ministry immediately after the information was made public and the NMA was instructed to carry out checks.

All project promoters will be checked

The ministry also confirmed that it has instructed the National Paying Agency to carry out checks on all project promoters, not just on a case-by-case basis.

„The Ministry of Agriculture has instructed the National Paying Agency to investigate the validity of the facts reported in the media and to carry out a fact-check on all project promoters and on the implementation of the trainings carried out under the intervention measure „Training and skills acquisition“, – the ministry's reply said.

The MAFF also stated that it is not in a position to identify at this stage the extent of the possible misuse of funds as the assessment of the circumstances is still ongoing.

„In certain cases, 100 % recovery of aid may also be applied“, – the ministry said, explaining the sanctions that may be applied when irregularities are detected. In this case, they will depend on the results of the investigation and the circumstances found.

Only six beneficiaries

Another interesting detail – only six beneficiaries have received training under the measure "Training and skills acquisition". Among the organisations that have received the most support, the NMA identifies the following:

• Lithuanian University of Health Sciences;

• Vytautas Magnus University;

• Public Institution "Scientific Services";

• Public Institution „Continuing Education and Consultancy Centre“;

• Lithuanian Chamber of Agriculture.

The amounts allocated for the measure itself have increased very rapidly: €228.6 thousand have been paid in 2024 and €855.9 thousand in 2025. Meanwhile, only €8,453 in sanctions were applied under the measure during this period.

This raises reasonable doubts that the control system in place so far has not been sufficient.