Black trading scheme: an influential business company has already cost Lithuania almost 2 million euros

How does the system work?

Hazardous waste must be collected and disposed of in such a way that it does not endanger the environment or human health. Only licensed companies can handle such waste.

However, there is a gap in Lithuania, which is exploited by unscrupulous companies that only collect waste but do not manage it. Or drive, but not everything you collect. It is important to note that these companies have generally already received money for the management of this waste.

Environmental control, which must be ensured by officials of the Department of Environmental Protection, is essential for the prevention of mountains of waste, which pose a threat to the environment and human health. However, in Lithuania it often happens that local environmentalists, when inspecting waste managers operating in a specific region, do not realize that they accumulate amounts greater than those allowed in the issued permit.

And when the day comes when officials observe and find tons of hazardous waste, companies that have illegally accumulated it generally go bankrupt. In this case, the management of said waste is already on the shoulders of the state, although the business has already been paid once for the management of said waste.

Theoretically, the state can recover costs in court from a bankrupt company. However, in most cases, business owners already have that scenario in mind and have no formal assets and funds that can be recovered.

Such a principle of activity is not new in Lithuania. The waste business is very lucrative and the awesome money is spinning here. For many years in our country, there has been a lack of polar will to change existing laws so that there is no room for abuse.

The state has already paid more than 1.7 million. euro

And now let’s move on to UAB Ūrus ir Ko, which is currently in bankruptcy. How Delphi According to Jurgita Jasiūnienė, a representative of the Department of Environmental Protection (AAD), at the beginning of the bankruptcy, there were a total of approximately 4,100 tons of untreated waste.

“These include construction, wood waste, sleepers, contaminated sludge, contaminated packaging, contaminated soil, various hazardous wastes stored in warehouses: metal processing waste, water contaminated with petroleum products, solvents, absorbents, laboratory chemicals, inorganic laboratory substances, muds, paints, varnishes, glues, ”which was found after the company stopped operating, the AAD representative named.

According to her, the waste stored outdoors posed a threat to the environment because the tanks were broken and leaking. According to J. Jasiūnienė, the state should soon start managing the remaining refugee waste. It is important to note that this will be done for the money of all of us. Work will begin at the end of the acquisition procedure.

According to the AAD representative, the public procurement documents have already been prepared for the management of the remaining waste in the warehouses, and funding is expected from the Ministry of the Environment.

“Currently, in cooperation with the Department of Fire Protection and Rescue, daily monitoring is carried out to see if the state of the remaining waste and its containers is deteriorating and if it does not endanger the environment and human health,” J. Jasiūnienė said.

After asking how much it cost the state to dispose of the waste left by the company, she stated that she had already planted 1706,031 euros.

Legal proceedings began

According to the environmentalists’ representative, 30 planned and unscheduled inspections were carried out when the company began operating in 2010. “After the inspections revealed waste management violations (lack of warranty, Integrated Prevention Permit requirements of the Pollution, technical regulations for waste recovery and disposal, waste accounting violations, failure to comply with legal instructions), environmental officials imposed dozens of sanctions on the company: they issued mandatory instructions and fined.The company constantly complained about the sanctions , dozens of complex legal proceedings began, “said J. Jasiūnienė.

According to the representative of the department, in order to prevent the problem from deepening, according to the order of the Minister of the Environment, the Department of Environmental Protection of the Utena Region in 2012. revoked the IPPC permit for the company and asked the Agency Environmental Protection (EPA) suspension (revocation) of the hazardous waste license. EPA suspended (then revoked) the hazardous waste management license.

However, the Supreme Court of the Supreme Court decided to apply the commercial priority criterion on the protection of the environment and, applying provisional measures, suspended the decision on the revocation of the permit, allowing the company to continue its activities during the period of the litigation . This allowed the company to continue transporting (handling, accumulating) hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

On May 21, 2013, the SACL declared unconstitutional and unconstitutional the order of the Minister of the Environment on the permit revocation procedure. Therefore, the decision of the Utena RAAD, based on the order in force at that time from the Minister of the Environment, was also annulled. The company had a permit again.

2014 Environmental officials went to court with precautionary demands and a request for provisional measures against the company. On May 5, 2015, the court upheld the preventive action (the appeal decision went into effect in April 2016). It forced the company to deliver all hazardous waste to waste managers within 1 month, otherwise it should be organized by the environmental protection authority, recovering the company’s funds, ”said J. Jasiūnienė.

Prosecutors launched an investigation.

Thus, the situation arose that hazardous waste remained where it accumulated. And now they have to be administered by the state.

Incidentally, prosecutors have not been without work in this long history. “2012 The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office launched a pre-trial investigation against UAB Ūrus ir Ko (articles 300 (3), 202 (1), 270 (1) of the CC; for illegal economic activity, violation of environmental protection laws and possible falsification of documents).) After 2 years of investigation, the criminal case was abandoned.

2014 Following the completion of the pre-trial investigation against UAB Ūrus ir Ko by the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office, in early 2015, the FNTT and the Office of the Prosecutor General resumed the pre-trial investigation against the company (Article 270 (2), Article 182 (2) of the CC). 184 (2), 300 (1), 222 (1)), this time the criminal case against company managers has already gone to court (2019), “said the representative of the Department of Environmental Protection J Jasiūnienė.

The license has been revoked.

In Lithuania, the current procedure is that the Environmental Protection Agency issues environmental permits and the Environmental Protection Department performs environmental control. Both agencies report to the Ministry of the Environment.

Lina Gaidžiūnaitė, representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, provided information on when the permits were issued to the company and how they were revoked.

“2008 June 13 The State Environmental Protection Inspectorate, which was operating at the time, issued a hazardous waste management license to UAB Ūrus ir Ko. 2012 March 2 After the UADN RAAD revoked the IPPC permit issued to UAB site Ūrus ir Ko located in Dičiūnai village, Utena district, in 2012. March 23 The Environmental Protection Agency abolished the company in 2008. June 13 Validity of part of waste management license Hazardous waste issued in 2007, which grants the right to store, dispose and use hazardous waste in Dičiūnai village, Utena district.

Following the court proceedings and the reversal of the Utena RAAD decision on the annulment of the IPPC by the Panevėžys Regional Administrative Court, the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court reversed the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke part of the license ”, L. Gaidžiūnaitė said.

The court decisions at that time were beneficial to the company Ūrus ir ko. However, environmentalists continued to record irregularities and eventually became the basis for the revocation of permits issued to the company once again.

“In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency, having received the information and documents provided by the Utena RAAD District Agency of Utena and found that UAB Ūrus ir Ko violates the requirements of authorized activity, January 7 suspended the validity of the UAB Ūrus ir Ko Hazardous Waste Management License, establishing a deadline for the elimination of infractions.

Since the infractions had not been remedied before the deadline, the Environmental Protection Agency on February 3 revoked the UAB Ūrus ir Ko license again. After court proceedings, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania on June 2, 2016 confirmed the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency by an unappealable order, ”said the representative of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Such a court decision meant only one thing: without a permit to work with hazardous waste, the company could not continue its activities.

The head of the company was convicted of fraud

But that is not the end of the story. As already mentioned, piles of debris remained and bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against the company.

Delphi he applied to the bankruptcy administrator, whom he wished to ask a series of questions. However, bankruptcy administrator Remigijus Jazbutis at Delphi refused to answer the questions submitted. “Unfortunately, I will not be able to help with the provision of information, as information about the bankruptcy process can only be provided to creditors and company participants. However, you can find a lot of information about the questions in the publicly available information at Internet, “R. Jazbutis told editorial staff.

Well now is the time to find out who ran this company and how their manager is doing today.
Among the documents submitted to the Records Center is the act of establishing a company signed in 1998. Algirdas Šiatkus has been named founder of this company.

The list of shareholders of July 24, 2013, which can be found in the Registration Center, indicates three shareholders: A. Šiatkus (75 shares), Laima Dzindzaletienė (15 shares), Albertas Lušys (10 shares).

However, changes to the list of shareholders soon followed. A. Šiatkus, the main shareholder of the company, did not remain among the shareholders. His actions were taken by another legal entity.

In 2014, the minutes of the General Shareholders’ Meeting indicated the following shareholders: ASAS GROUP LLC (75 shares), L. Dzindzaletienė (15 shares), A. Lušys (10 shares).

However, A. Šiatkus is mentioned in the 2014 document as the head of the company.

This company is also known for the Special Investigation Service. Your representative Renata Keblienė Delphi He claimed that STT had conducted a pre-trial investigation related to the Ūrus ir ko company.

“The investigation began in 2014. in September, due to the actions of the head of the company he mentioned to fraudulently confiscate the insurance company’s funds. 2016 October. After completing the pre-trial investigation and referring the case to the courts, the head of the company he mentioned was convicted of fraud for 42 months. The imprisonment, with the execution of the sentence suspended for 24 months, received 26,790 euros in compensation for material damage, “reported R. Keblienė.

Began to continue in public procurement

The company “irrus ir ko”, founded by A. Šiatkus, left piles of hazardous waste at the beginning of the bankruptcy and the state is currently managing it out of pocket. Currently, A. Šiatkus is not formally in business. However Delphi I noticed that the activity was carried out by UAB Projektavimas ir kompiuteriai.

The head of that company is Rūta Žirgulytė, and the shareholder is ASAS GROUP LLC. It is a company of the same name that was a shareholder of the bankrupt company Ūrus ir ko.

ASAS GROUP LLC is registered in the United States. Delphi He became familiar with the information from the US registry and discovered that Algirdas Šiatkus had been appointed representative of this company.

In the CSD database Delphi He found information that this company started tracking in public procurement this year. May 7 this year. Design and Computers has signed an agreement with Klaip Klada Seamen’s Hospital for the purchase of disposable protective equipment. The value of the contract is 7,260.00 euros.
And on April 28, 2020, the Lithuanian Armed Forces Mobilized Infantry Brigade “Žemaitija” bought a camouflage net from this company. The value of the contract is 19,954.80 euros.

A. Šiatkus: the company is being destroyed by competitors

Delphi He contacted A. Šiatkus and wanted to ask him about the bankruptcy procedures of irrus ir Ko, about his possible connections with the US-registered company ASAS GROUP LLC, which is a shareholder of Projektavimas ir kompiuteriai.

However, during the first call, A. Šiatkus did not answer specific questions. A. Šiatkus called the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings the destruction of the competitors.

“If you’re just gathering hostile information about someone’s order, which is what’s happening during the bankruptcy case, don’t talk to me. This is where the destruction of the competitors takes place: the competitors are destroying us. These are bankruptcies. ordered by someone, bribes of hundreds of thousands of euros are paid to destroy the company, “said A. Šiatkus.

The next day, he called the journalist himself and discussed the situation in more detail. Speaking about ASAS GROUP LLC, he said that it has nothing to do with this company. He called himself simply unemployed and said that someone else was associated with the company, with the same first and last name as his.

Speaking about the bankruptcy procedures of irrus ir Ko, he did not want to accept that 4,100 tons of untreated waste remained at the beginning of the bankruptcy. A. Šiatkus named another amount: 1,400.

Finally, he stated that three companies were interested in the bankruptcy of the company that he had established. A. Šiatkus also took the position that environmentalists were not objective towards him and prevented the company from working. “It started to fail, maybe because I didn’t buy the car when they asked me to,” the former company boss reasoned.

According to him, the company could dispose of accumulated waste if environmentalists had not stopped their activities. According to A. Šiatkus, the state now manages the waste accumulated by his company much more expensively than the company itself could have managed.

R. Žirgulytė, the head of the UAB company Projektavimas ir kompiuteriai, sent responses to the journalist’s questions by email.

“We would like to inform you that our company is not involved in the bankruptcy proceedings of UAB Ūrus ir Ko, therefore we do not have the opportunity to answer these questions.

I explain that the shareholder of UAB Projektavimas ir kompiuteriai is a foreign legal entity ASAS GROUP LLC. I have no authority to comment on who are the shareholders and managers of a foreign legal entity. We communicate with ASAS GROUP LLC through the EU representative Algirdas Šiatkai, who lives in the United States. I emphasize that Algirdas Šiatkus, appointed by you, is not the actual manager of UAB Projektavimas ir kompiuteriai. Participation in the management of the company is limited to the rights of the shareholder representative and the decisions made by the shareholders, “said R. Žirgulyt señaló in writing.

The Ministry of the Environment is preparing changes.

Delphi He contacted the Environment Ministry and asked why the gap in the waste management system, which creates opportunities for unscrupulous waste managers, has not been closed for so many years. Audronė Nikšaitė, Senior Advisor to the Waste Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment, stated that changes have already started that should contribute to solving this problem.

“To guarantee the real application of the principle of” who pollutes pays “, the Ministry of the Environment has also prepared a 2020 June 11 presented to the Government amendments to the Waste Management Law and other laws so that all recovery companies or disposal of waste have sufficient financial security to ensure that, in the event of bankruptcy or other cessation of waste, the waste is disposed of in an appropriate and timely manner not by the State, but at its own cost, “said A. Nikšaitė.

According to her, the decision to improve legal regulation was made by the Ministry of the Environment after evaluating the deficiencies of legal regulation and practical activities. Currently, only newly created waste management companies with a pollution permit or Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Control (IPPC) must have financial security – a surety bond contract or a bank guarantee. This ensures that the costs of waste disposal and facility closure are covered if they cease to exist, if the company itself does not have the funds to do so.

However, according to the Ministry of the Environment, this requirement does not guarantee that waste left by other companies, which do not have an obligation to have financial security, is properly disposed of. “Furthermore, experience shows that the amounts of financial guarantees provided by companies, which they themselves calculate on the basis of market rates, are often artificially reduced. For example, now the average amount of financial security for companies in waste management operating in the Vilnius region is only 3,500. Although, according to a preliminary estimate, it costs an average of about 230 thousand euros to dispose of the waste of a company in default and close the facilities. “explained the representative of the Ministry of the Environment.

Therefore, the Ministry of the Environment proposes that financial security be provided to all waste management companies with pollution permits or IPPC, and not only to newly created companies, as currently established; that all companies are subject to a standard amount of financial security approved by the Minister of the Environment, differentiated according to the nature and quantity of the waste; that, in addition to the surety contract and the bank guarantee, an alternative way to ensure compliance with the obligations is a maximum mortgage, which would reduce the additional financial operating costs incurred by the companies and other operating restrictions required by the insurance companies and banks.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Environment agreed that there are companies that do not handle waste but only collect it. In such cases, the state suffers the damage. Following the bankruptcy and liquidation of these companies, the court often orders the authorities of the Ministry of the Environment to dispose of the accumulated waste.

A similar situation occurred with “Urus ir ko”. According to A. Nikšaitė, by judicial decision, the Department of Environmental Protection was instructed to organize the management of hazardous waste from UAB Ūrus ir Ko, recovering the costs incurred by the economic entity.

Almost 2.4 million LTL have already been allocated for waste management left by this company. euros “From 2015 to the present, almost 2.4 million euros of the funds of the Support Program for Environmental Protection have been allocated for the management of hazardous waste at UAB Urus ir Ko, of which more have been used of 1.7 million euros (paid under public procurement contracts executed or in progress) “. – said A. Nikšaitė.