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Prosecutor General Evaldas Pašilis appealed to the Seimas regarding the immunity of V. Gapšis so that the alleged case of political corruption could be further investigated in the Vilnius Regional Court.
V.Gapšys is on trial for influence peddling in this case.
The temporary commission had to assess whether the prosecutor’s request to waive the immunity of a member of the Seimas was not related to political persecution.
The final decision on waiver of immunity will be made by Parliament.
To waive the immunity of a member of the Seimas, at least 71 parliamentarians must vote for it.
During the session of the temporary commission of inquiry on Friday, V. Gapšys stated that he was being prosecuted for the activities of a member of the Seimas.
“I carried out the activities of a member of the Seimas and I am being persecuted for it,” said V. Gapšys.
According to him, the prosecutor himself admits that his actions were lawful but misinterpreted.
“It is the constitutional duty of a member of the Seimas to act legally, which is what I did. In the same way, a member of the Seimas has the constitutional right to seek that other officials also act legally. However, the prosecutor takes my other legal activity , my activity as head of the Labor Party electoral headquarters, and by merging several legal activities into one, makes it a crime, “said V. Gapšys.
Photo by Sigismund Gedvila / 15min / Vytautas Gapšys
The politician claimed that the forces of order, long before using criminal intelligence, took individual episodes, interpreted them and put them in a single case.
“For a long time, observing my legal actions, I take one thing from a year, I take other things from another month or year, I throw those things into a heap that are not necessarily related and make them a crime,” said V. Gapšys.
“If I followed at least one of their years and listened to their conversations in December and January, I would probably really find an opportunity to think of something and, shaking off each other, making it a crime,” the politician said.
The Attorney General of the Attorney General’s Office, Justas Laucius, who participated in the meeting, reported that the issue of the political persecution of a member of Seimas was not raised at any stage in this case.
“V.Gapšys has never stated at any stage of the case that this is a political or politically inspired deal with him as a politician,” the prosecutor said.
According to the official, V.Gapšys is accused of trading with the influence that he agreed, promised and accepted 12.1 thousand. EUR and 15 thousand. promising the briber, former vice president of the company MG Baltic Raimondas Kurlianskas, that he will influence other officials and institutions to make decisions that are beneficial to the company.
J. Laucius announced that this case of political corruption is already in the final stage.
“If it happened that it was decided not to waive the legal immunity of a member of the Seimas, the criminal case against Vytautas Gapšis would be terminated,” the prosecutor said.
According to him, the process on the responsibility of the Labor Party as a legal person would also stop.
On the other hand, J. Laucius pointed out that if V. Gapšys ever lost his legal immunity, the process would resume.
The Seimas member, in turn, asked the temporary commission to demand additional material before making a decision and offered to interview more people. The Commission rejected these requests.
Juliaus Kalinsko / 15min nuotr./Justas Laucius
In the corruption case called MG Baltic, there is an episode in which R. Kurlianskis, the former vice president of the MG Baltic company, allegedly gave a total of 27.1 thousand in 2015-2016. bribes worth EUR.
Law enforcement officials claim that part of this amount was discounted by broadcasting the Labor Party advertisements on the group’s television, the other part of the funds disguised as support for a public institution. To this end, V. Gapšys tried to influence Labor Party members, state officials and the Lithuanian Railway Board to act for the benefit of the company.
A total of five natural persons and three legal persons are being tried in this criminal case.
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