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Gilma Teodora Gylytė tells in a video published in the spring what the renovated Vilnius train station could look like. The reconstruction of the station will cost hundreds of millions of euros and the Gylytė architecture company is also involved in the project. The winners have yet to be announced, but there is already little doubt in the architectural community that the team of Mayor Remigijus Šimašius’ new wife will be among the winners.
It will soon become clear if this is true. However, passions do not fade due to past projects. Just two months ago, Šimašius announced that he had married Gylytė, and the facts that the architecture firm Do architecs won five 2019 municipal competitions were immediately made public.
The most profitable is the Tolminkiemis gymnasium construction project in Pilaitė, for which the municipality of Šimašius paid – 730 thousand. euros. The Seimas Anti-Corruption Commission also decided whether the mayor could protect the future wife’s business. Earlier, members of the municipal opposition also accused the mayor of nepotism. One of them, Vydūnas Sadauskas, also presented his suspicions to the parliamentarians.
“The main winner of this contest was UAB Projektai ir Co, which would have made that contest much cheaper than after its completion and reorganization of the contest. This commission will investigate the circumstances that led to the end of the first contest, ”says Vydūnas Sadauskas, president of the Municipal Anti-Corruption Council.
The mayor is immediately interrupted by the former deputy mayor, a member of the same Freedom Party, Vytautas Mitalas.
“It just came to our attention then. Lithuania has not yet had much interest in a competition for the design of an educational object,” says Vytautas Mitalas, a member of the Freedom Party.
Although there are non-public architects who explain that the project could have cost half, the president of the Chamber of Architects assures that there are 730 thousand. corresponds to the market price.
“In this case, this amount of design of the Tolminkiemis gym does not reach the values of the recommended price list,” says Lukas Rekevičius, president of the Chamber of Architects.
The Financial Crimes Investigation Service is still deciding whether to initiate an investigation into the construction of the Tolminkiemis Gymnasium. And the Special Investigation Service found nothing to go by, did not initiate an investigation.
“There was no specific factual data that would allow us to believe that there was a possible abuse,” says Rūta Kaziliūnaitė, deputy director of STT.
It is just a matter of the period covered by the data collected by the bureaucrats. After marrying Gylytė two months ago and explaining that they had only recently met, Šimašius only then filled out a declaration of private interests. The response of the director of Public Procurement suggests that if the mayor did not declare that he met the wife last year or the previous year, the service simply trusts him.
“If the employees do not indicate and do not record the links between public and private interests, the Office of Public Procurement cannot establish certain links between employees and companies,” says Darius Vedrickas, Head of the Public Procurement Service.
“According to this saying, everything is legal – ‘vsio zakonno’. (…) Carry out corrupt activities in an innovative way, that state institutions will not even notice,” says Social Democrat Julius Sabatauskas.
By the way, the seimas invited Šimašius himself to the meeting, but he did not show up: “I did not plan, because there is a lot of work. I got a specific question, a specific response was sent to the commission. “
The mayor then defends himself against the protest of the future wife’s company. “It just came to our attention then. The answer is simple. No ‘zero, comma’. Zero. Not much,” he says.
The opposition does not believe that Šimašius has duly declared his interests. “The mayor and one of the shareholders of the architecture company are standing next to the object or something and everywhere,” explains J. Sabatauskas.
Peasant woman Agnė Širinskienė also agrees: “The fiancée was not officially declared until the last minute. I think this is one of the worst examples of nepotism that thrives on self-government, of which there are many. It is a pity that the mayor does not dare to apologize to the public. “
“In fact, I look forward to an apology from some Social Democratic leaders, who hypothesize that ‘if so, that’s very bad.’ But it’s not like that. Maybe you can “push” first and then launch accusations. I really have nothing to apologize for in this case, ”emphasizes R. Šimašius.
The Anti-Corruption Commission intends to continue to await responses from the services.
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