Kaunas scandal: Official convicted of data misuse and destruction has been appointed to a responsible position

He managed to withdraw before the court verdict

Vytautas Jurkevičius, who had been the Chief of the Kaunas Municipality Public Order Department for several years and had previously worked as Chief of the Corporate Government Branch, finished his career scandalously.

STT officials found that this official abused the service, even three times helping his friend avoid a fine. To avoid penalizing a friend for not paying parking fees, he removed the information from the administrative crime information system where a friend’s car was registered.

After initially trying to deny fault, V. Jurkevičius finally confessed, and the pre-trial investigation initiated due to abuse and illegal impact on electronic data ended with a criminal order. This means that the accused agreed with the sentence proposed by the prosecutor: 4 thousand. Fine of 67 euros and deprivation of the right to work in the public administration, municipalities and state-controlled companies for three years.

This criminal order, equivalent to a conviction, was issued in the Kaunas District Court on February 6 of this year. Until then, V. Jurkevičius left his job in the municipality of Kaunas, was retired, so the court verdict mentions that “he is not working, at retirement age”.

Despite the court’s ban, he runs a company in six municipalities.

V. Jurkevičius’s future career was very interesting. He was employed as a public procurement specialist at the Kaunas Regional Waste Management Center (RATC), a strategically important public institution managed by six municipalities in Kaunas County and Kauno Švara.

Eventually, he became the acting manager of RATC, which carries waste throughout the Kaunas region, manages landfills, sorting companies, and waste collection sites. This strategically important company has not had a permanent manager since spring 2018, when its CEO Kęstutis Balčiūnas resigned. Ingrida Valavičienė, the project manager who had held this position for some time, also resigned.

Eventually V. Jurkevičius, a former long-term employee of the Kaunas Municipality, became the temporary head of the Kaunas RATC.

How could this have happened if a criminal law was passed in the Kaunas Chamber of the Kaunas District Court earlier this year, which prohibited V. Jurkevičius from working in the civil service for three years, as well as in municipal companies or state or municipal and state legal entities?

After all, Kaunas RATC fully meets these criteria: its shareholders are six regional municipalities and the company Kauno Švara, controlled by the municipality of Kaunas.

The data collected by Delfi suggests that the peculiarities of the law may have been wisely used in this case.

Kaunas RATC chief: “the criminal order has not entered into force”

Although a criminal order was passed in the Kaunas District Court, for which V. Jurkevičius, who did not deny his guilt and repentance, was found guilty under two articles of the Penal Code, this did not prevent a further career leap.

Delfi managed to find a contract on February 24, which was signed by V. Jurkevičius, a Kaunas RATC public procurement specialist, who was acting as director. Only 18 days had passed since the judicial verdict.

After contacting the acting head of the Kaunas RATC and asking how he can perform these tasks, if a court-issued criminal order prohibits him from working in municipally controlled institutions, not to mention the administration, he received a surprising explanation. V. Jurkevičius assured that he does not have a valid sentence …

“Under the law, it may not expand, but I don’t have it yet,” said the acting director of Kaunas RATC.

When asked if this court verdict was appealed, although the only way to challenge the criminal order is to ask the court to start a court case, V. Jurkevičius did not elaborate on the current situation.

“There are legal nuances here, but I don’t have them,” Jurkevičius said, assuring him that the criminal order issued against him had not entered into force.

“When it goes into effect, appropriate decisions will be made,” said the former long-term official of the Municipality of Kaunas, currently head of the Kaunas RATC.

Error sending registered or email

If the court issued a criminal order on February 6 this year, why did V. Jurkevičius, who pleaded guilty to misuse of the service and impact on electronic data, ensure that this decision has not yet entered into force?

Delfi’s contact with representatives of the Kaunas District Court revealed a very interesting circumstance: the law stipulates that the criminal order must first be delivered to the convicted person, who can request a court hearing within 14 days without agreeing to the.

In other words, this order takes effect only if the convicted person who has pleaded guilty and accepted the sentence imposed does not change his mind within 14 days of receiving it. Once a criminal court order has taken effect, it cannot be appealed.

The spokeswoman for the Kaunas District Court, Indrė Cvilikait no, said the court has so far been unable to deliver the order to the convicted V. Jurkevičius.

“The court sent the document in different ways: by certified mail, by email, but does not retrieve the letter,” the court spokeswoman said.

I. Cvilikaitė mentioned that in the end the court requested the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office, which was overseeing the investigation of V. Jurkevičius’s case, for prosecutors to help find the unknown convict and would eventually receive a criminal order.

The new job was discovered by STT agents with prosecutors.

Darius Valkavičius, the Chief Prosecutor of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office, emphasized on the Delfi portal that the execution of court sentences is compulsory exclusively for everyone, and the inevitability of punishment is even more important than its size.

The head of the prosecutor’s office clarified that after receiving a pre-trial investigation into V. Jurkevičius’s actions, the prosecutor who oversaw V. Jurkevičius’s actions, along with the STT officials who conducted him, had to remind your “client” again.

“The person’s current job has been determined and the data about him has been transferred to the court. Therefore, it will be possible to comply with an order of the criminal court of this person through his workplace,” he told the portal. Delfi D. Valkavičius, head of the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

Consult with Kaunas lawyers and leaders

V. Jurkevičius, who has worked in the municipality of Kaunas for many years, has become a temporary head of Kaunas RATC, not without the support of the board of this municipal waste management company.

The founders of RATC are 6 Kaunas County Municipalities and Kauno Švara Company, and Kaunas residents have the highest weight on the Board. Of the 10 members of the Board, 6 places are occupied by representatives of the Municipality of Kaunas and Kauno Švaros, which it controls.

Tadas Metelionis, a long-term employee of the municipality, currently Acting Deputy Director of the Administration, occupies the highest position among “Kaunas residents”.

After asking about this legal phenomenon, when a retired official employed as a public procurement specialist was appointed acting chief of the Kaunas RATC, T. Metelionis admitted that the court prohibited him from working in state institutions and companies for three years; he is aware of this situation.

“Vytautas himself has declared at the shareholders’ meeting held a few weeks ago that a verdict has been issued in the court of first instance, but it has not yet entered into force, it has not been delivered to him. And once he receives it, he will be able to complain in 14 days. Therefore, in general, the parties agreed that the presumption of innocence still applies in Lithuania. Until the sentence becomes effective, you can appeal, we can only talk about it, “said T. Metelionis, Deputy Director of the Administration of the Municipality of Kaunas.

T. Metelionis, a member of the Kaunas RATC Board, mentioned that until now he did not know that the court could not deliver the document to the convicted person without finding it, therefore, he approached the prosecutor’s office and STT officials were also used for records. According to T. Metelionis, he will turn to lawyers and request a conclusion on the current situation.

“I think it will be necessary to ask Vytautas himself to send the documents, pass this information on to the managers, the director of administration and the mayor, and take the appropriate measures,” said T. Metelionis.

I had already mentioned that the letters had not been withdrawn

Once prosecutors and STT agents have determined where your former “client” is working and what his duties are, and after informing him in court that he was unable to find you, a criminal order is likely to be sent to the condemned in the near future.

Why this has not been done so far, if the former influential Kaunas official did not specifically withdraw the documents the court sent him, or if they were sent to the wrong address, you can only guess.

However, in the case of V. Jurkevičius unraveled by the STT, there are data that this person had already mentioned how to avoid punishment a little earlier on how to avoid it. This was confirmed to law enforcement officers during the pre-trial investigation by his former subordinate, an employee of the municipality’s Public Order Division.

He recalled writing a letter to the company that owns the Peugeot 307 in violation of paid parking. Only later did it become clear that this car was used by a friend of the then head of the department V. Jurkevičius. And while trying to help a friend avoid fines, V. Jurkevičius removed data from the Administrative Offenses Information System (ATPIS), which records all recorded offenses.

According to the witness, for one of these violations, he wrote two letters that he sent on behalf of the driver to the company that owns the car.

„2018 At the beginning of the 19th century, he was summoned by Chief V. Jurkevičius, who showed him the signed letter prepared by him and said:” How will you punish me if you tell them not to take the letters addressed to them? “

The witness did not respond, but realized that he may have an interest in the company not receiving the letter. After a time, said letter (letter) returned as not delivered to the recipient, ”says the case file.

Data on violations disappeared from both the system and the subordinate cabinet

The witness’s suspicions that his boss was involved in illegal activities were further intensified when he searched the information system for other violations of the driver of this car, but found nothing. He heard from a colleague that only the head of unit could erase the data.

Soon this worker was involved in a traffic accident and was receiving medical treatment for some time. When he returned to work, he missed the same Peugeot toll violation case in his office, even though it was definitely on the table earlier. According to the witness, he recalled that he had seen the driver of this car visit the office of V. Jurkevičius.

The witness informed the Director of the Administration of the Municipality of Kaunas about the manager’s possible illegal actions, then the STT agents carried out the investigation. It revealed that data on three crimes committed by a Peugeot driver had been removed from the ATPIS system.

During the interrogations, V. Jurkevičius initially tried to deny guilt, but after a few days he changed his mind. After writing an email to STT agents, he admitted to lying about the stress and excitement he had experienced and asked to be questioned again. V. Jurkevičius at that time did not hide the data on the violations committed by his friend, assured that he had done it without his request, simply wanting to help his friend to avoid imminent fines.

During the investigation, a curious detail became evident: by deleting the data on the violations committed by a friend of the ATPIS system, V. Jurkevičius does not know that they do not disappear anywhere and can be easily restored. STT agents did it easily with the help of IT specialists.