A secret police investigation led to Tuvlita: patrol, drivers and drivers in sight

This story, as it began, ended in silence: the officers who carried out the pre-trial investigation transferred the criminal case of bribery and bribery to the Vilnius Regional Court. Six people were prosecuted: a former policeman, two drivers from the Lithuanian and German company Tuvlita, a car service foreman and two drivers who had been illegally subjected to mandatory roadworthiness tests.

Judge Daiva Kazlauskienė examined the criminal case in a written procedure – all the defendants acknowledged the charges, agreed with the type of punishment proposed by the prosecutor – but asked to reduce its amount and allow it to be paid as long as possible .

The court ruled that Raimond Kopač, who no longer works in the police and assisted the inspector of the technical inspection center, would have to pay a fine of 6 thousand euros to the state budget. The same fine was imposed on Tadeuš Račko, who is a car repairman; helped the policeman to find the necessary acquaintances at the Tuvlita technical inspection station in Vilnius Viršuliškės.

6 thousand Tomas Žadvydas, the controller who no longer works in Tuvlita, will have to pay EUR to the state budget. He was convicted of bribery in three episodes.

Ramūnas Petkelis, the former controller of Tuvlita, who once took a bribe, was fined 5,000. Eur good.

Andrej Nasyr, who has bribed the Tuvlita controller, who has been twice equated as a public official, will have to pay 4.5 thousand LTL to the budget. Rafal Kubarevičius was sentenced to a bribe: 3.4 thousand. EUR.

Those convicted will have to pay the fines imposed within a year, and the money received from T. Žadvydas and R. Petkelis was also confiscated as a bribe.

According to the data of the case, it was established that the pre-trial investigation in the police began at the end of September last year, when the criminal intelligence received information about the possible impact of the police patrol R. Kopačius on the Tuvlita employee. , VW Golf and Opel Vectra technical inspections, car inspection result cards issued for bribes of 50 euros with conclusions about the conformity of the vehicles with the technical requirements.

These data were confirmed: T. Žadvydas, who was working as a driver at the time, admitted that he did not notice any technically messy cars from bribes. However, according to him, the breakdowns were minor and the drivers promised to fix them.

T. Račka, who knew T. Žadvydas personally from his studies, met the drivers with the Tuvlita driver. And the two drivers, to whom the documents were illegally issued, were known to R. Kopačius, who worked in the police.

“R. Kopačius is a good acquaintance of mine, I usually communicate with him about car repairs, – said T. Račka, who works in the service. – About the spring of last year, R. Kopačius came to my repair shop to communicate the language came out on technical inspections of automobiles. Then he asked me if I had any acquaintances working at the technical inspection station who could help with technical inspections. I understood what he was saying: ‘helping’ is that certain defects go unnoticed, and that for that reason a certain reward is given. We did not talk about the specific price, but I think he knew it himself, he had heard it from his other clients: this service cost 50 euros. I did not ask R. Kopačius for any remuneration for the mediation, because he was working in the police at the time, so I hoped that maybe one day he would need his services “, I agreed to help in good faith.

A service worker said during a survey that he had hinted to a police officer that he “has a good acquaintance with who he studied.” This acquaintance is T. Žadvydas.

“I approached him every time, asking if he could help,” said T. Račka.

The man assured that he did not receive any remuneration for meeting other people with the Tutvila driver, neither from the owners of the car nor from the intermediary police officer.

“R. Kopači had explained that the driver would not hand over money to him, he would put it in a visible place in the car cabin, in the ashtray, admitted the person in charge during the interrogation.

According to him, the failures of the cars for which he measured maintenance were minor: “R. Kopatius said there are no criminals here. “

According to T. Račka, because he agreed to help acquaintances of the police officer, he sent the plates and coordinated the time: “Exactly when T. Žadvydas was working. And then I let him know when the car arrived. “

R. Kapočius contacted the drivers directly, but assured that he also did not receive any compensation for this illegal service, he only had to pay the Tuvlitas driver 50 Eur, which the drivers left in the ashtray when he inspected the vehicle.

T. Žadvydas, the former Tuvlita driver, admitted that he had received “thanks” from the drivers. He did not hide the fact that he once asked his colleague R. Petkelis for “help”: he had to inspect a car whose driver had promised not to notice any breakdown. And he agreed, although he later argued that it was the first time he had received a bribe of 50 euros for illegal actions.

“When asked by T. Žadvydas, I did not intentionally record the identified deficiencies, in the results report I noted that the car meets the technical requirements, a colleague mentioned that a fee will be left for that illegal service, but did not ask to share it,” he said R. Petkelis.

During the first interrogation, the Tuvlita controller noted that although he took the money, he did not use it: “Upon realizing my illegal act, I tore it up and threw it away.”

During another survey, R. Petkelis clarified his position: “I have been working in the Technical Inspection Center for more than two years, during this period I have never rendered such an illegal service for any remuneration, so I am very afraid to do so. . I realized I had done something stupid, so from what I can remember, in the kitchen at work, I threw this money bill in the trash at the end of my job. “

Car drivers who left bribes to Tuvlita drivers in the ashtray also pleaded guilty.

The court ruling also mentions that the Vilnius County Police is also conducting another pre-trial bribery investigation, which sparked an interest in illegal activities at the technical inspection center.