The prosecutor’s office appealed the verdict in the case of the director of the Utena primary health care center and his family members – AINA

The Panevėžys District Prosecutor’s Office appealed against the acquittal of former chief epidemiologist Loretai Ashokliene. The prosecutor’s office maintains that her husband, the director of the Utena Primary Health Care Center (PSPC), Edvinas Ashoklis was unjustly acquitted of forging documents, and together with his son, of illegally using his workplace fuel card for personal purposes. The appeal also requests that E. Ashoklis be fined twice as much as the first-instance court decided for abuse and waste of someone else’s property.

The Panevėžys District Court acquitted L. Ashokliėna of possessing a known forged document in a verdict announced in April this year. The woman was accused of having a fake Utena PSPC work certificate specially made for her, although she did not actually work at this medical facility. The court stated that there is no reliable and indisputable evidence in the case to substantiate this accusation, and at that time, as the head of the Health Promotion Department of the Department of Public Health and the country’s chief epidemiologist, the accused was able to travel around Lithuania avoiding the pandemic restrictions.

The husband of the accused, E. Ashoklis, who signed this fake document and confirmed it with the seal of the workplace, was acquitted of forging the document. In the verdict, the court recognized that E. Ashoklis sought in this way that his wife, after the introduction of restrictions on movement around Lithuania during the global pandemic, could cross checkpoints more freely and come to him in Utena from Vilnius more easily, but assessed that this fake work certificate could not cause any more significant consequences.

The court of first instance also acquitted Ashoklių’s son KA, who was accused of illegal possession of an electronic means of payment and use of its data. These charges were brought against KA because he filled his vehicle with fuel using a fuel purchase card belonging to Utena PSPC.

The court stated that although KA undoubtedly realized that he was in possession of a foreign card and its user’s identity confirmation data, his actions cannot be considered illegal. According to the judgment, according to the law, only such actions are recognized as illegal, when the card and its PIN code are used without the consent of the owner or user of the payment instrument. According to the court, in this case KA used the fuel purchase card and its PIN code with the knowledge of father E. Ashoklis, who was the legal user of the card. The latter was also acquitted of illegally transferring an electronic payment instrument to his son.

The Panevėžys District Court found E. Ashoklis guilty of abuse of official position and waste of property. His subordinate was found guilty by the AT of aiding and abetting the abuse of office, aiding in wasting other people’s property and falsifying documents. The court found in its verdict that the cars of the director’s son were repaired at the workplace’s expense.

The court sentenced E. Ashoklius to a final combined sentence of 20,000. EUR fine and deprived him of the right to work or hold the position of a civil servant or a person equivalent to him in state or municipal institutions and legal entities controlled by them for 4 years.

AT received the final combined penalty – 10 thousand. EUR fine. The fines must be paid by both defendants within 12 months from the date of entry into force of the sentence. E. Ashoklis and AT will also have to compensate Utena’s PSPC for 1124 euros in property damage.

The pre-trial investigation in this case was conducted by the officers of the Panevėžys Board of Special Investigations, and Mantas Jurkėnas, the prosecutor of the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Panevėžys District Prosecutor’s Office, led the investigation and supported the state prosecution in court.

Prosecutor M. Jurkėnas appealed this verdict of the court of first instance to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal. In the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office, the arguments regarding the unreasonableness of the acquittal of L. Ashoklienė, E. Ashoklis and their son and the awarding of an excessively lenient sentence to E. Ashoklis are set out. According to the prosecutor’s office, the goals of the punishment for abuse and waste of someone else’s property will be achieved only if a stricter fine of 50,000 is imposed. EUR fine.