The conclusions of the Upes Street investigation include a colorful story by Rokas Masiulis about conversations with Skvernelis

The COEC carried out the investigation in two directions: 1) the private interests of S. Skvernelis did not influence decisions to allocate funds for street paving works; 2) Mr. Skvernelis was not required by law to withdraw from deliberations and decisions, possibly related to the allocation of funds for street asphalt works.

299 thousand out of 300 thousand. euros

The COEC recalls that the investigation began last year when the news portal 15min.lt In the publication “From the Government of the Vilnius District Highways 300 thousand. 299.9 thousand euros It was stated that the Municipal Council of the Vilnius District included the street in the list of streets to be repaired in 2019. October 25 decision, and five days later, in 2019. On October 30, the money was allocated for the works by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

“S. Skvernelis, who chaired the government meeting that day, did not withdraw from this decision, because, according to the Prime Minister’s representative, the government did not allocate the money to pave a specific street,” the document read.

The community appealed more than once.

In the data collected by the COEC and the reaction of the municipality of Vilnius district to the survey. It establishes that the residents have been requesting the repair of said street from the municipality for several years.

And even in 2018. August 17 The Neris Valley community asked the municipality of the Vilnius district to pave a part of the street (250 meters) by participating in the 50–50 program, that is. and. 50 percent the funds would be communities and 50 percent the municipality would contribute.The asphalt works in this section were completed in 2018. In November.

After evaluating all the circumstances, the COEC decided to investigate whether: 1) the private interests of S. Skvernelis did not affect the decision to allocate funds for street paving works; 2) Mr. Skvernelis was not required by law to withdraw from deliberations and decisions, possibly related to the allocation of funds for street asphalt works.

The old man named the problems.

The old man from Zujūnai VTEK explained that this street is one of the “most problematic objects of this type in the old man”, because the street more than 5 km long passes through a wooded and mountainous area, a considerable section of the road is located in the Neris river valley.

According to the old man, there are only two settlements near the street: Smigliai and Bieliūnai villages. Street maintenance “poses a major problem in both summer and winter.” With the increase in the number of settlers and the intensification of traffic, complaints about the quality of the road surface on this street have “increased, both from individuals and from state institutions.”

And the old man himself, according to his financial capabilities, could only make minor repairs on the roads.

According to the old man, the problems of the pavement of the street “have been known and discussed several times in the municipal institutions, discussed in the meetings of the old men of the old Zujūnai”.

The mentioned street length is 7.1 km, the annual daily traffic intensity (cars per day) is 150 and the population is 200.

VAD application to maintain and pave the street

The Department of Management Security (VAD) has even addressed the Vilnius District Municipality several times since S. Skvernelis took over as Prime Minister.

In late December 2016, it was stressed that the condition of the road “causes difficulties in ensuring the protection of protected persons.

In a letter to the Vilnius District Municipality in the summer of 2019, SAD stated that “it constantly faces difficulties in using a street whose pavement depends on seasonality.” In addition, the street is narrow, without barriers, without protection against animals that could escape from the street.

Emergency situations are possible during sudden maneuvers. Wells, rocks and dirt “constantly damage the courtship cars that transport the Prime Minister.”

Due to the quirks of escort tactics, cars are driven close to each other, therefore, stones that rise from the road damage the bodies, windows and headlights, and pits damage the suspensions. When the road surface is dry, dust is generated and the mud formed in the wells is covered by the bodies of the cars that travel to the official meetings.

Taking these circumstances into account, the director of the Management Security Department asks the Vilnius district municipality to “address the issue of street reconstruction and asphalting.”

Anonymous testimonial

In the course of the investigation, the COEC received a personal report indicating that in 2018. In the first half of the year, the current Deputy Minister of Transport was personally invited to the Prime Minister at least twice.

During the meetings, the Prime Minister wondered if there were opportunities to pave the street on which he lives.

Following these meetings, the Vice Minister, who in 2018. Was the Director of the Department of Road Transport Policy and Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, recounting the Prime Minister’s words to his colleagues and conveying the Prime Minister’s question about what Street paving form could be the cheapest.

The rapporteur drew the Commission’s attention to the fact that the street was never on the list of priority sites.

R. Masiulis’ statements were not confirmed

The opinion of the former Minister of Transport and Communications R. Masiulis on this situation was also included in the material of the investigation carried out by the COEC.

2019 December. He shared an opinion on the Street section on the personal account of the social network Facebook.

According to the former minister: 1) in his capacity as Minister of Transport and Communications, they had spoken to Prime Minister S. Skvernelis about the street “in the context of other matters when discussing the paving of gravel roads, they discussed the criteria for paving the streets, “but to allocate funds for this object”; 2) it is unrealistic that the Ministry of Transport was not aware of the decision on paving the street, as the reserve funds are reallocated for use at the end of the calendar year.

He said he only learned from the media that funds were available for the street. This surprised R. Masiulis, because during his time as a minister, the street was not considered to be intense, so he could not be allocated funds under “normal circumstances”.

This surprised him because “being a minister in the then Ministry of Road and Civil Transportation

According to the former Minister of Transport and Communications, at least three of these conversations were held, during which “the Prime Minister pointed out that the transport conditions on the street are bad, the cars break down (the suspension of the car from its wife “collapsed” in a couple of years), VAD complains [kelio] dust. “

The Prime Minister asked “about possible technical solutions to pave this type of street, asked if there was cheaper asphalt that could be paved on such light roads, asked if the width of the road could be reduced (considering that this would not cause any practical interference cars), thus saving project costs. “

After several such talks with the Prime Minister, he invited experts from the Ministry of Transport and Communications to “discuss the Prime Minister’s problems”.

The conclusion of the discussions was always the same: the Ministry of Transport and Communications cannot contribute to the paving of the street, because it is not intensive, in addition, the street is under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of the Vilnius District, but not the Administration of Lithuanian Roads.

From conversations with a ministry official, now vice minister of Transport and Communications, he realized that the latter had been invited to the Government House several times, “where the issue of the street was also discussed.”

The former Minister of Transport cannot say exactly whether the person met with the Prime Minister or the Government Chancellor, who, when he was Minister, oversaw “all road matters” in the Government.

15min.lt He interviewed the current Deputy Minister of Transport, Vladislav Kondratovich, who was probably invited to these meetings. He said he had not heard of the street in question.

“There was talk of programs, of various sectors, but not of a specific street. They haven’t spoken to me ” 15min.lt V. Kondratovičius said.

The Vice Minister also spoke with COEC.

Kondratovičius met twice with the Prime Minister.

During a meeting, which was also attended by the then Minister of Transport and “other participants”, the draft procedure for allocating the reservation of the Highway Maintenance and Development Program, its criteria and the garden management program for the residents was discussed. gardeners. There was no mention of paving opportunities in his presence.

During the next meeting, which was also attended by the then Minister of Transport and Communications and “other participants”, the reform of AB Kelių’s supervision and the participation of this company in the tenders were discussed. There was no mention of paving opportunities in his presence.

2017 November 15 A complaint was received from the person about the state of the street and its paving possibilities. After evaluating the essence of the complaint and the fact that the street belongs to the municipality of Vilnius district, the complaint was sent to the last institution. During the working meeting held at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, issues related to road development were discussed “with the participation of management”.

According to the Vice Minister, the street was also mentioned when the requests received were discussed. He informed the participants of this meeting that said complaint had been forwarded for examination to the Vilnius District Municipality in accordance with its competence, and the subsequent course of examination of the complaint regarding the state of the street depends on the decisions of the last institution.

The testimonies were not convincing.

The COEC writes that during the investigation it received testimonies from several people that S. Skvernelis, according to them, had spoken with relevant officials of the Ministry of Transport and Communications about the street and was interested in the possibilities of its arrangement. Such talks are said to take place in 2018. in the first half.

However, in the opinion of the COEC, these testimonies of individuals cannot be considered to have a predetermined evidentiary value in the context of the circumstances under consideration, therefore they should be evaluated in light of all the evidence gathered during the investigation.

It is also noted that the testimony of the persons mentioned above is not confirmed by other data collected during the COEC investigation, and the official persons named as possibly aware of the circumstances testified were categorically denied by the COEC.

Delphi recalls that the COEC decided to close the investigation on both points.