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– Povilai, why do you say ‘broken bottom’? The mayor, according to his explanation: he recently married, he was not related at the time, the mayor himself, he claims, is not involved in any decision on the outcome of the tender.
– First, the declaration of public and private interests, the various possible conflicts are not the only current problem. It seems that this problem has become systemic for the Municipality of Vilnius and it is obvious that the situation of the mayor, which became evident just yesterday, is just an icing on the cake, which we consider a certain manifestation of cynicism.
I also want to point out: I don’t know what liberals are like, but usually people are not in a relationship the day before the wedding. Obviously that relationship existed, in the municipality that new company, the mayor’s wife, won the bids and it will be interesting to see what time they win and what amounts are involved.
– 15min.lt announces that 5 contests have been won since 2019, the maximum amount is 730 thousand. euros. Karoli, what could you answer to what Paul said?
– It’s difficult to answer something. We understand the questions that the mayor has tried to answer by stating his interests to the commission, and the mayor himself has addressed the commission in a letter asking again for clarification if additional measures are needed to ensure full transparency.
As mentioned in the statement, as the mayor himself has repeatedly said, he does not participate in decisions about tenders or any type of contracting. So to see some connection here and some agreements would be strange.
– Paul, how would you react to the fact that the mayor, in fact, does not participate in decision-making?
– First of all, I would like to respond to the statement that interests were declared: once again, the mayor declared this relationship the day before his wedding. Second, the Vilnius City Municipality likes to do it first and then request it in writing.
But it’s about honesty and political decency: Since the relationship didn’t start the day before the wedding, then if you’re an honest politician, what you always state when you go to mayoral elections explains that you are dealing with corruption. How can you have any relationship that might raise questions (the mayor seems to have understood this himself when he wrote his Facebook post) but didn’t state them?
And then he explains that he will already apply in writing, it will be another six months before he receives a response from the COEC, and supposedly everything is in accordance with the law. But this is a common practice in the municipality.
And as for whether the mayor makes decisions or not, I will remind you that the mayor is a representative of the Freedom Party, which together with the conservatives form the majority, the director of administration, who, by the way, also resigned abruptly and quickly. , in a sense, the mayor, the question arises, does the mayor really have no influence at all, what decisions does the Vilnius city municipality administration make?
– In fact, Karoli, it is hard to believe that the director of the company does not have, if not direct, an at least indirect influence on purchases. Do you have to do it one way or another?
– It would be difficult for me to explain the direct or indirect influence. But what the mayor has done in the past and in this legislature is that the city has very clear rules that are the same for everyone: 10 architectural rules have emerged, standards have emerged in the streets and it is clear that perhaps not all of them like it. Best Competition Winners: Architecture competitions are organized by the Union of Architects, the winners are selected by independent members, so it is difficult for me to see a prior agreement here.
There have been many steps that the market does not really like, perhaps also for some politicians. We understand that questions may arise, but we are ready to answer them – the mayor himself again addressed the COEC asking for clarification. And if not everyone wants to hear the answers, not everyone likes them, it is their right.
– Karoli, but the question arises: 5 competitions won. Since when does the mayor interact with his wife, who has now become his architect?
– I couldn’t answer, you should ask yourself.
– You probably know. Maybe you just don’t want to answer.
– Well, I didn’t stand next to him. But I think the mayor will definitely be able to respond when he returns from vacation.
– Paul, how would you react to Charles’s statement that not everyone likes the rules that have been introduced, that everything is very clear, that there is competition and that competitors are losing, that there is political competition and that is why are you going up this problem? Although, according to the mayor, the issue apparently does not exist.
– Neither the Vilnius Social Democrats nor I have any interest other than the public. We do not participate in any competition. This is a direct statement from the architects themselves: “Somehow those 10 supposedly transparent architecture rules miraculously comply with a company. It affects them much more easily than others. “
These rules are good, but the question is, aren’t those rules, like some public procurement, created for a company? We have many such situations in Lithuania, and it is common practice for the Vilnius municipality, which has always had problems with public procurement, where not only politicians, architects, but also the Financial Crime Investigation Service have questions. .
– Karoli, what would you say to the possible wording of conditions for specific companies?
– Somehow it would be difficult to explain how, for example, the Vilnius Master Plan, which defines all the rules, how the city will develop, what is its perspective, is written for a company. It really isn’t.
– Povilai, do you have other fundamental questions?
– Why did the court suspend the approval of the Master Plan? Was it not just political opponents, not just some businesses, but the courts that seemed to be at fault? What kind of transparency, orderly rules can we talk about here?
The Master Plan is constantly reproached by architects, by various communities, but its author, the omnipresent guide -and in scandals with public and private interests- is the chief architect of the city, who already even blackens people, reiterating that nobody does it. will do. answer and similarly. We even have questions, who owns the city? Perhaps Mindaugas Pakalnis has become the sole owner of the city?
– Karoli?
– It’s hard to say anything. This is not the case. Public officials do their job, maybe not everyone likes their solutions, but they are transparent and follow clear rules. I often hear that “some people know something, they say something …” If you know something that seems opaque to you, there are municipalities, there are Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commissions in the municipality itself, please give us details and let’s talk about the facts. And that someone does not like something, he said something, well forgive me, I find it frivolous.
– Povilai, do you have the facts?
– The fact is very simple: the court had suspended the approval of the Master Plan because it had one of the main reasons and it was that it did not contemplate communication with the population, all the allegations.
– Karoli?
– The master plan is currently approved and in operation.
– Karoli, 15min.lt He investigated that in 2019 the achievements of the company associated with the new wife of the mayor of Vilnius began. As far as you know, in 2019 they were already communicating, right?
– It is worth clarifying here regarding the investigation: we ourselves have provided the media with all the material and contracts with figures, realizing that doubts may arise. But I don’t have that kind of knowledge and I can’t really answer that question because I wasn’t working at the time.
– When can we get answers from the mayor when he returns?
– He’s on vacation for two weeks.
– Povilai, has previously requested other municipal officials from the COEC. Can you briefly tell us what you requested?
– A very similar type of information was published in the media, it was just a matter of fact that the employees of the Vilnius municipality have their own companies or their relatives, the relatives have companies that somehow win the tenders again according to those 10 rules, they receive money from Vilnius and more can not declare their relationships with legal persons, relatives and the like.
In principle, from the point of view of the law, if such facts are proven – only that a public official does not declare his private and public interests – it is already a violation of the law. But we are currently waiting for answers from the COEC, which has also made an interesting decision to ask the Vilnius municipalities if everything is going well with public and private interests. But such a situation has really arisen and it really seems that this problem is systemic for the Municipality of Vilnius.
– Karoli, what are you up to?
– We would be very happy if the services spoke before, because there is a lot of speculation, we and others have requested. When the explanations are there, everyone will be calmer and everyone will be happy.
