Alstom Bribery Case Revived in Seimas: Why Donors Sit in England and Takers in Lithuania Don’t Business

15 minutes He wrote earlier that famous politicians in Lithuania, ministers and energy of the time, could receive bribes totaling 5 million. euros For this, the international company Alstom was allowed to win tenders at the Lithuanian power plant.

This was explained by the British Office for Investigation of Serious Corruption.

From Alstom executives’ bribes in 2005-2010 Lithuanian government officials and energy companies suspected of taking the case avoided a real fine due to the statute of limitations, as the larger amounts could have entered their accounts long ago more than ten years.

He was asked about the prosecutors’ interpretation.

The Seimas has already concluded its spring session, but on Wednesday the Anti-Corruption Commission, made up of rulers and the opposition, asked prosecutors to explain how it happened here that in the Alstom bribery story, only donors were punished, not receivers.

The meeting was closed, so the journalists were unable to attend. Although the investigation was terminated, prosecutors requested confidentiality due to the sensitivity of the investigative material. Some British-named people are currently actively involved in Lithuanian political life.

Prosecutors informed Seimas members that the investigation had ended due to the statute of limitations, the lack of evidence and the absence of signs of a crime. Admittedly, the commission members wanted to familiarize themselves with the pre-trial investigation material, so they promise to continue discussions in the fall.

“Prosecutors mentioned legal differences between British and Lithuanians that the British can press charges against the material.” But it is obvious that this shows that impunity is flourishing in Lithuania, ”Commissioner Agnė Bilotaitė said after the meeting.

According to her, the collapse of the Alstom bribery case showed that there are problems with the administration of justice in Lithuania. “It seems strange that in other countries, people are punished with real imprisonment for bribes in Lithuania, and there is a lack of evidence in Lithuania,” he said.

Another member of the commission, Naglis Puteikis, had the impression that the prosecutors present at the hearing behaved like Alstom’s lawyers. “Therefore, I offered them that Lithuania should return the compensation that Alstom had transferred to the budget. After all, the international company itself admitted that its managers shared bribes in Lithuania.” 15 minutes N.Puteikis testified after the meeting.

The topic will be discussed in the next Seimas session in the fall. MPs believe prosecutors should continue the investigation.

The British named specific amounts and names

The British Bureau of Serious Fraud Investigation also named the names of people who could receive money in Lithuania, but only the bribes were sanctioned. On December 20, 2008, a British court convicted John Venskas, then director of business development for Lithuanian-born Alstom Power, and Goran Wikstrom, former regional sales director for the company’s Swedish division.

J.Venskas has been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, and G.Wikstrom will have to serve two years and seven months.

British investigators discovered that the bribes had been paid from 2002. February 14 to 2010 March 31. The service even made a short film on the merits of the case.

https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FUKSFO%2Fstatus%2F1076122297851879429&widget=Tweet

Alstom was ordered to transfer € 11 million. Compensation was made to the Lithuanian budget.

In Lithuania, prosecutors lacked data

Although the British specifically and in detail mentioned who and how bribes were given in Lithuania, the Attorney General’s Office terminated the investigation.

“After taking all necessary actions of the pre-trial investigation and using all the possibilities to collect relevant data for the investigation, insufficient data was obtained to corroborate the suspect’s guilt over the possible bribery and to raise suspicions against other people,” the Prosecutor’s Office announced on April 20.

The Attorney General’s Office also had material collected by the British under which the bribes were condemned.

Incidentally, the prosecution refused 15 minutes to provide procedural documents for the completion of the investigation, only a press release was issued.

There are specific places in the STT material

The only person who managed to make suspicions, the then head of Lietuvos Energija, Rymantas Juozaitis, constantly denied that he had participated in any corruption plan. Other high-ranking politicians and energy in Lithuania were only interviewed.

And in Britain, the royal prison was given to bribes.

15 minutes he saw material collected by the STT, which was also shared with British investigators. The material provides evidence of how and where the bribes were carried out. For example, one of the places at that time was the Lietuvos Energija recreation center on the shores of Lake Asveja.

Entrepreneur Pranciškus Jurgutis provided important information for the British investigation. 15 minutes He has admitted that he was an intermediary between bribes and top executives in Lithuania.

He repeatedly went to London, where he provided real estate researchers with details of how the money was transported and for what purposes. British specialists also came to Lithuania.

Having previously promised to give more details, P. Jurgutis declines to give an interview.