“If the General Prosecutor’s Office confirms the refusal to start a pre-trial investigation, (…) that will be enough for us, the opposition, to be able to call a meeting, elect a chairman and continue working,” NSGK vice-chairman Dainius Gaižauskas, a “peasant”, told BNS.
The member of this committee, social democrat Dovilė Šakalienė, also told BNS that after receiving the assessment of the prosecutor’s office, “I hope that the point will be put to rest”.
As the representatives of the opposition did not participate in the session of the Seimas NSGK, and the member of the Freedom Party faction Vytautas Mitalas did not vote, it was not possible to elect the new chairman on Thursday.
NSGK has 11 members, five of them are representatives of the opposition.
Saulius Skvernelis, the leader of the “Vardan Lietuvos” Democratic Union, told BNS that after the prosecutor’s office approves the decision of the STT, he will also return to NSGK, and the party will return to the negotiations initiated by Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė regarding increased defense funding.
“We will wait for the decision of the prosecutor’s office. If the investigation is refused, then we will return to the proceedings”, said S. Skvernelis.
After clarifying the circumstances following the statements of former Minister of National Defense Arvydas Anušauskas, the STT decided on Thursday not to initiate a pre-trial investigation into possible corruption, but the validity of this decision has yet to be assessed by the General Prosecutor’s Office.
The revision was initiated after the appeal of the representatives of the Democratic Union “Vardan Lietuvos”. They turned to law enforcement after A. Anušauskas, who handed in his resignation in mid-March, stated that he “had to close the doors of companies” that tried to bribe employees of the national defense system, but these found their way to the Seimas.
They say they still see “hooks”
After the appeal, the opposition stopped participating in the negotiations on higher defense funding, arguing that after A. Anušauskas’s statements, doubts about the transparency of the national defense system should be dispelled before additional appropriations are allocated to it.
Unlike the Democrats, other representatives of the opposition will not be in a hurry to return to the negotiations.
According to D. Gaižauskas, the law enforcement’s refusal not to start a pre-trial investigation does not in itself answer all the questions regarding transparency in the national defense system, just like the previous statement of the STT that no other pre-trial investigations were started during the term of this Government in 2020-2024.
These issues are still being clarified by the Seimas Anticorruption Commission,
“First, we don’t know if there is a criminal intelligence investigation or not.” As far as I heard from the members of the Anti-Corruption Commission who were at the meeting, there are hooks and they really see them,” said D. Gaižauskas.
“Secondly, it will still be necessary to disclose what A. Anušauskas said to the president. After all, the president said that the information was very serious, he was named, and if nothing was done, it would practically be a crime against the state. And (the president – BNS) identified that it is a member of NSGK. I think that the president who said such words should say what A. Anušauskas told him, and it may be that A. Anušauskas will most likely burn his political career because he cast a terrible shadow that will not disappear now,” he said.
D. Šakalienė, for her part, urged the Government to finally submit a proposal to the Seimas on how to additionally finance defense.
“Otherwise, it risks becoming just endless conversations and part of the election campaign,” said the social democrat.
In order to increase the fixed funding of national defense from 2.5 percent. up to 3 percent representatives of the gross domestic product, politicians, business and trade unions are negotiating on the initiative of the prime minister, how to collect additional income for the state budget.
Among the proposals are to increase the rates of added value and profit taxes, to give up some tax benefits, to reduce the share of personal income tax falling on municipalities.
The Government hopes to announce specific proposals in mid-April.
Tags: opposition return NSGK prosecutors office confirms decision STT absence corruption
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