The FNTT arrested R. Stonis, owner of the Kaunas cogeneration plant



[ad_1]

The Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) arrested Rimandas Stonis, considered one of the wealthiest Lithuanian businessmen, LNK News reported. Energy businessman Rimandas Stonys was arrested in an investigation into a VAT fraud scheme, BNS confirmed Tuesday.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Service has yet to comment on the situation.

To the knowledge of BNS, R. Stonys is being investigated in the investigation, he has been detained. BNS has not yet been able to reach Stonys’ attorney.

According to news from LNK, he is currently being questioned outside Vilnius, FNTT promises more information on Wednesday.

Modesta Zdanauskaitė, a spokesperson for the FNTT, said BNS did not comment on the situation. More information will be provided on Wednesday.

R. Stonys is the owner of Kaunas Cogeneration Power Plant (KHPP), previously he controlled the Dujotekana company, which was one of the largest gas importers of the Russian company Gazprom in Lithuania.

Dujotekana has been importing gas from Gazprom through the Swiss company LT Gas Stream since 2008; the contract with her was to be valid until 2020, but in the fall of 2018 the company terminated it and looked for new business opportunities. Former business partners of R. Stonis stated that he controls the intermediary LT Gas Stream.

In 2017, it was announced that KHPP and Datang International Power Generation, one of China’s largest power producers, had agreed to establish a joint venture that would build a new $ 120 million plant in Kaunas. about 150 MW of gas cogeneration plant. However, the project was not implemented.

In June 2019, it was announced that KHPP owner R. Stonys had peacefully settled with the Cyprus-registered company Restoni Trading for 8 million. repayment of debt in euros.

In 2006, the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee (NSGC), conducting an investigation into the activities of the SSD, demanded that the department hand over 12 analytical certificates, which allegedly revealed the influence of business and interest groups on politicians and service . Former SSD leaders refused to do so for reasons of current legislation.

In 2010, R. Stonys stated that by publishing the SSD certificates and publishing the names of the persons mentioned in them, it would be possible to initiate legal proceedings in court.

“If the names are mentioned, there will be an opportunity to continue the legal proceedings for defamation. It will be interesting to explain the basis on which information about me was collected, how the monitoring and tapping of conversations was legalized. Why do those certificates include to people I have met who have nothing to do with my business? ”R. Stonys told Lithuanian Morning at the time.

The businessman stressed that in these certificates the Prosecutor’s Office “did not see the composition of the crime twice.

In a study published by NSGK in 2007, Dujotekana was linked to foreign special services in an unfavorable context. From some of the NSGK testimonies it was clear that the SSD had drawn up certificates regarding Dujotekana’s relationships with high-ranking state officials. Some politicians have begun to speculate that the company may have had a decisive influence on some of the processes taking place in the country.

“Both Dujotekana and R. Stonys, as well as the relations of corruption and the influence of Russia in one or another process in Lithuania, all this is in those certificates,” an anonymous SSD official testified during the parliamentary investigation of the activities of the SSD. .



[ad_2]