The Vilnius District Municipal Council unjustifiably established additional payments for council members

After the action “Skaidrinam” caused a resonance due to the absorption of self-government funds, the Special Investigation Service (STT) notices that the Vilnius District Municipal Council has unreasonably established additional payments to local politicians.

Taking into account the request of the Mayor of the Vilnius District Municipality, Robert Duchnevičius, STT officials conducted an anti-corruption assessment of the draft amendment to the municipal council’s activity regulation.

According to the STT, this amendment project was aimed at consolidating the position of faction rapporteurs not provided for in the Law on Local Self-Government, as well as separate premises and technical means assigned exclusively to one faction.

In addition, the draft proposed to return the additional payments canceled by the law, which would be paid by the municipal administration, to the members of the Vilnius District Municipal Council – the compensation of the representative expenses of the faction, as well as – the additional payment of the monthly call limit of the mobile communication device of the committee chairmen.

STT draws attention to the fact that in the wording of the operational regulations of the Vilnius District Municipal Council, which entered into force on February 24 of this year, the proposed changes that are flawed from an anti-corruption point of view and incompatible with the provisions of the Law on Local Self-Government have been adopted, with the exception of the payment of representational expenses.

“Such a situation can be assessed as flawed both from the point of view of anti-corruption and the rationality and legality of the use of municipal funds, it shows the lax attitude of the Vilnius District Municipal Council towards transparency and the formation of an anti-corruption environment in the municipality,” reads the statement issued by STT on Thursday.

ELTA reminds that last spring, after publicist Andriis Tapinas initiated an investigation into the absorption of municipal politicians’ funds by “Skaidrina” and as a result a scandal arose regarding the possible misuse of office funds by politicians, a number of municipalities came under the scrutiny of law enforcement.

Under the guidance of district prosecutors, the Special Investigations Service is currently conducting pre-trial investigations into the payments of 24 municipal council members: the cities of Vilnius, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Alytus, Utena, Ukmergė, Kretinga, Ignalina, Mažeikių, Šilutė, Jonava, Lazdijai, Pasvali, Prienė, Telšiai, Radviliškis, Joniškis, Tauragė, Zarasai districts and Birštonas, Marijampole, Neringa, Pagėgii, Druskininkai municipalities.

These investigations are carried out in order to clarify and assess whether there has been any misuse of councilors’ allowances to cover expenses related to their activities as councillors.