[ad_1]
On Thursday, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal overturned the Vilnius district judgment of July 25, 2019, according to which the company had to pay LTL 10.3 million to the city. half of the amount requested by the prosecutors and the municipality.
According to the Attorney General’s Office and the municipality, this amount was formed by paying more than two hundred kindergartens and schools in Vilnius for the heat consumed over 10 years not according to the readings of the meters installed in them, but according to certain formulas provided in the contracts.
As a result, according to the prosecution and the municipality, 20.6 million. difference of euros.
In addition, the court declared that the Attorney General’s Office and the municipality must cover the costs of the litigation incurred by the Municipal Service in equal parts, almost 18.8 thousand. euros.
According to the court, the contracts signed in 2002 and 2010 established clearly defined formulas according to which the municipality was accountable to the Municipal Service. Furthermore, the contracts did not provide for the final payments to be calculated on the basis of the readings of the accounting instruments, in accordance with the order of the Court of Appeal.
The Court of First Instance found that City Service had received an excessive amount of money for services as a result of that agreement, as evidenced by the company’s profit margins.
Law enforcement had established that if Vilnius had paid not the middleman, but Vilniaus Energija, which provided heating directly, the capital would have saved around LTL 20 million. euros. However, the Court of First Instance also ruled that the municipality should bear part of the responsibility and therefore only half of the amount claimed was awarded.
The municipality, for its part, asked the Court of Appeal to confirm the action in its entirety and to grant the city 20.6 million euros from the City Service. euros.
City Service previously stated that after the company made the heating supply more efficient since 2002, Vilnius paid significantly less to heat kindergartens and schools than before or after the contracts were signed, and “savings of around 20 million LTL. euros’.
According to the company, in August 2013, the Supreme Court of Lithuania (SCL) ruled that the agreement with the municipality was legal. Previously, in 2012, the Attorney General’s Office, which investigated the legality of the contract, according to the Municipal Service, also did not find the composition of the crime and ended the investigation.
In August 2013, City Service finally won a dispute with the Office of Public Procurement (VPN) for more than 122 million. LTL contract (€ 35.3 million) for the maintenance of Vilnius kindergartens and school buildings and the supply of heating and hot water.
However, VPT challenged the tender announced by the municipality in June 2010; he allegedly violated the Public Procurement Law, for which the service requested that the new contract be declared void.
Subsequently, the SCL ruled that the contract was lawful, but the panel of judges informed the Attorney General’s Office of a possible violation of the public interest so that it could file a claim to protect the public interest. According to the court, it was not established in the case whether the contract parties made payments under the contract or whether City Service reached an agreement with Vilniaus Energija.
20.6 million In July 2014, law enforcement agencies reported a loss of € 1 billion in the Vilnius budget for the municipal administration and the City Service company.
The Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) then suspected that the losses had occurred when the Vilnius municipality bought heating from the municipal service. According to the researchers, since 2002 the municipality has been settling accounts with the company according to a formula that also includes heating and hot water supply services.
In November 2010, the municipality and City Service signed a new three-year agreement of 35.3 million. A contract worth € 1 million for the maintenance of the Vilnius kindergarten and school buildings and for the supply of heating and hot water.
[ad_2]
