The National Laboratory employs people involved in big business

One of these people left office as soon as BNS became interested in hiring laboratories.

“I’m not interested in those things. I don’t really care what an employee does after work, someone runs, someone else does something. It really is not very relevant to me today, because there are many other issues to consider,” said D. Bakša to BNS.

Mr. Bakša himself also combines the management of the laboratory with another position: the work of adviser to the director at the Republican Psychiatric Hospital in Vilnius.

Acting Minister of Health, Aurelijus Veryga, says he knows nothing and does not have to know about the hiring in the laboratory, and explains the work of D. Bakša in two low-paid positions.

The head of the department is the authorized representative of Litvalda

In addition to the public selection, lawyer Agnė Krušinskaitė was hired last week as head of the NVSPL Quality Department.

According to data from the Registry Center, he is currently a prosecutor for the Litvalda company, an authorized representative of a company controlled by a well-known businessman Augustinas Rakauskas. A. Rakauskas also owns Real Estate Companies (RE) Baltic RED and Baltic Shopping Centers, Knowledge Radio, Harmony Park Health and Leisure Center, and other businesses.

When BNS inquired about hiring in the lab, the head of NVSPL explained that he would not want to discuss the hiring of the department head in detail, because she was no longer working.

Later, NVSPL clarified in writing that A. Krušinskaitė’s last business day was Friday.

A. Krušinskaitė’s name was not published on the NVSPL website and D. Bakša declined to answer questions about the circumstances of hiring a lawyer.

“These are personal matters that are of very little importance,” Baksha said.

There is almost no information about A. Krušinskaitė in the public space: the woman indicates on her Facebook account that she graduated from Vytautas Magnus University, other data reveals that she previously worked at the Kaunas Republican Hospital and carried out her public hiring.

Before joining the political office in 2014-2017, D. Bakša also worked in this hospital, he is the head of the Department of Law and Document Management.

Head of Department for less than a few weeks

On Friday, Mr. Bakša initially refused to name the hired woman as head of the institution’s quality department, saying it was irrelevant information.

When BNS stated that it was A. Krušinskaitė, it confirmed that it knew the lawyer personally, but did not want to comment on the circumstances of her employment in further detail.

The director of NVSPL stated that he did not remember exactly the details for what term A. Krušinskaitė was employed and since when she has not worked at the institution. When asked if she was still working as a manager on Thursday, Ms. Bakša answered yes, and when she checked if she was no longer working on Friday, she also answered yes.

‘A. Krušinskaitė was hired on a fixed-term contract and worked from November 24 to December 4, ”the laboratory later clarified.

D. Bakša claimed that the woman had been admitted to the position of head of the department for a period of less than a few weeks by prior agreement.

According to him, extremely low salaries made it difficult to recruit new staff following the resignation of former department heads. Therefore, for a short period of time, it was decided to invite “another employee” to assess the situation in the organization within a specific time, “if there are gaps”.

D. Bakša said that he did not know exactly whether A. Krušinskaitė had signed any documents from the institution during his short working day.

He also explained that he was not aware of A. Krušinskaitė’s connection to Litvalda and that she was not interested in his other places of work.

“I know she works somewhere, but exactly where, I couldn’t name her,” Baksha said.

Laboratory analyst, entrepreneur, assistant to the Seimas member

Since October 16, Kastytis Masalskas, an entrepreneur, has also been employed in the newly established position of economic analyst in NVSPL’s Public Procurement and Planning Division. According to data from the Registry Center, K. Masalskas is the owner and shareholder of the Pink Rose Trading Company, which markets flower seedlings.

K. Masalskas also combines business and new positions in the laboratory with work started at the Seimas in the fall: she is an assistant to Ieva Kačinskaitė-Urbonienė, a “working woman” of the Seimas member. He occupies a part-time position.

Mr. Masalsk refused to answer BNS’s questions, stating that he had to obtain permission from the head of the laboratory.

“The body is a subject of hypersensitivity and I am unable to communicate one thing or another. (…) I don’t really have to answer all the questions, “said K. Masalskas.

He ensured that all his work was easily coordinated.

NVSPL director D. Bakša BNS explained that the institution receives a greater share of the income from paid services, at that time the salaries of the employees are among the lowest in the market. Thus, an analyst was hired to consider the development of paid services for a trial period of three months. The economic analyst job description is not published on the NVSPL page.

D. Bakša said that he had invited K. Masalskas himself and confirmed that he had also worked with him at the Kaunas Republican Hospital for some time.

In 2014, K. Masalskas was hired by the then director of Kaunas Hospital for the newly established position of Deputy Director of Management. In 2012, he ran for the Seimas on the Labor Party list.

The portal delfi.lt has written about significant changes to K. Masalskas’ asset and income statements, assets that have increased almost tenfold in just a few years. The politician did not comment further on these differences in the statements at the time.

“We worked with K. Masalskas at the Kaunas Republican Hospital about six years ago, and at that time he demonstrated real competence and skills in terms of economics and processes. That is the logic ”, explained D. Bakša the reasons for the choice.

Mr. Bakša said that he was also not interested in Masalsk business or other workplaces.

I. Kačinskaitė-Urbonienė, a “working” member of the Seimas, stated that she knew K. Masalskas during his party’s activities, said that he had received his help in organizing electoral campaigns in Kaunas, but said that she did not know whether he currently belonged to Labor Party.

“Kastytis solved that dilemma: whether he would move to Vilnius and start working here, or would he still stay in Kaunas. It was I who was one of those people who encouraged me when D. Bakša invited him to work in Vilnius. I encouraged that step. , because I think that their management skills are really necessary also in the laboratory ”, said the parliamentarian.

Head of the laboratory – from 12 noon.

It turned out that Mr. Bakša himself is coordinating various positions in different workplaces. Every morning, the head of NVSPL rushes to work not in the laboratory, but in the Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital.

“He (D. Bakša – BNS) currently works in the hospital as a part-time advisor to the director. As indicated in his job description, he advises on infrastructure and law enforcement matters (…) This is certainly not our creative work. It should leave as of 7.30 am. Be at work. And so far it is, “said Arūnas Germanavičius, director of the Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, on BNS on Thursday.

D. Bakša, who won the competition for heads of the National Public Health Laboratory announced by the Ministry of Health, assumed this position on October 1. The post of laboratory director was vacated following the death of the director of the Vytautas Zimnickas institution in the summer.

On the same day, October 1, Mr. Bakša was hired part-time as a counselor at the Vilnius Republican Psychiatric Hospital, where he had previously worked as deputy director.

Is it possible to reconcile the leadership of one of the most important pandemic agencies and the role of adviser in one of the largest hospitals in the country?

“Yes, I also discussed this issue with him and asked him to agree with the ministry. It’s him working in the morning with us and I don’t see any problem from my side. He reconciles what I entrust to him and what areas, ”said A. Germanavičius.

When asked what kind of work and what tasks are performed by D. Bakša, who works as a counselor at the hospital, A. Germanavičius did not name them and stated that he could only answer these questions in writing.

Mr. Bakša said that he worked as an advisor to the hospital director from 7.30 am. until 12 noon, and his time as head of the laboratory begins at 12 noon.

“I work one day after 12-16 hours. Realistically, from morning to night (…) I work mostly on weekends. As for my workload, I would not wish the enemy, “Bakša explained and assured him that he could coordinate everything.

Hospital career – after consultations with A. Veryga

D. Bakša, who graduated from Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital with a law degree, began his career in January 2018, shortly after resigning from the post of Advisor to the Minister of Health Aurelijus Veryga. D. Bakšai had to withdraw from the minister’s political team at the end of 2017, when the daily Lietuvos Rytas announced that he could pressure the then deputy minister to win the project for the post of director of the State Health Insurance Fund (VLK). Baikovsky.

A few months later, at the beginning of 2018, Mr. Bakša was employed at the Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital in the newly established position of Advisor to the Director.

The director of the hospital, A. Germanavičius, does not hide the fact that the new position of adviser was established as soon as he assumed the leadership after consulting with the Minister of Health A. Veryga.

“It was established (post-BNS consultative) and it was established precisely in coordination with the Ministry. As the Minister called me (…) and told me what the situation was in the hospital and gave me certain tasks to reform this hospital, we discussed with him what are the possible steps and what specialists are needed for that, ”said the chief from the hospital to BNS.

When asked if it was A. Veryga’s recommendation to hire Bakšas as a hospital counselor, the director replied: “I could not answer this question either yes or no.”

A year later, Mr. Bakša won the competition for the deputy director of the hospital and worked in this position until the autumn of this year, when he won the competition for the head of the NVSPL and returned to the position of advisor to the director of the Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital .

A. Veryga: working two positions due to low wages

Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga said on Friday that he knew about Bakša’s second job and had known about it since the beginning of his lab work.

According to him, this is due to low salaries in the public sector.

“If you look at the salaries of the directors of our institutions, you will understand why people try to have more than one job,” Veryga said.

“As long as the manager can coordinate these jobs and can do his job properly, I don’t see a problem with that,” he added.

According to the Minister, the boss decides the employment of other people in the laboratory, so he does not have to be informed about it.

“For all the other jobs, what is used or not in the laboratory, I really do not know and I do not have to know; it is the responsibility of the head of the laboratory, his job to train the staff of his institution,” said the Minister.