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According to the prosecutor’s office, the data collected during the pre-trial investigation suggests that P. Gražulis from May 2015 to February 2017 may have sought and received property benefits from a private company acting in the interests of this company and non-interference. authorized in the activities. from other officials in Lithuania and Russia. He also offered to give money to Russian officials, asking him to act illegally in the interests of that company.
According to the prosecutor, with such actions a member of the Seimas in a systematic way, for a long time exercised his status and influence as a representative of the highest authority, diminished the prestige of his functions, the authority of the Seimas and the members of the Seimas, violated the principles enshrined in the Constitution and therefore the State suffered significant non-pecuniary damage, “said the Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.
In 2015, Russian officials found the Listeria bacteria in Judex frozen food products exported to Russia.
Earlier, it was announced that a member of the Seimas had helped Judex deal with related problems: he had repeatedly called Lithuanian and Russian officials, asked for bribes, and asked for violations of existing procedures.
P. Gražulis acted at the request of Rimantas Kičas, then CEO of Judex, and Patricija Pachomovaitė, commercial director of the company. The latter also worked as his assistant at the Seimas.
According to the police, acting in the interests of the company, P. Gražulis, being a member of the Seimas, possibly received company property benefits: company funds, free use of company car, fuel cards, airline tickets purchased at company expenses.
In 2016, P. Gražulis refused to testify as a special witness, so the Attorney General asked the Seimas for permission to prosecute, arrest or restrict his freedom.
The then Attorney General Evaldas Pašilis submitted an application to the Seimas with such a request on June 4, 2019, but the Seimas rejected this request. After exhausting all available investigative possibilities, the pretrial investigation was finalized in the fall of 2019.
On December 3 of last year, the Attorney General repeatedly asked the Seimas for exemption from the legal immunity of P. Gražulis and the Seimas allowed him to be prosecuted. Following the abolition of the legal immunity of a member of the Seimas, the aforementioned pre-trial investigation was resumed.
Mr. Gražulis was accused of abuse. After taking all possible procedural actions and evaluating the documents collected during the pre-trial investigation, an indictment was drawn up and the case was referred to the Vilnius Regional Court.
The criminal case consists of 44 volumes of documents.
The investigation started in 2016 was carried out by officials from the Central Investigation Board of the Special Investigation Service, and the investigation was organized and controlled by prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office.
