Saulius Skvernelis's Property Frozen in Palanga During Corruption Investigation
Law enforcement has prohibited politician Saulius Skvernelis and his wife from disposing of a flat by the seaside. This step was taken while investigating alleged bribery within the State Plant Cultivation Service.
Saulius Skvernelis's Property Frozen in Palanga During Corruption Investigation
Law enforcement has prohibited politician Saulius Skvernelis and his spouse from disposing of their flat in Palanga. This step was taken in the course of a pre-trial investigation into alleged bribery. The freezing of the property was reported by news portal LRT.
Information from the Register Centre shows that the restriction on the property was registered from 26 May 2026. The politician and his wife purchased the flat of nearly 52 square metres in 2020, buying it with a bank loan. According to the assessed value, the flat was valued at 212 thousand euros.
This week the General Prosecutor's Office confirmed that it had changed the preventive measure for the suspected parliamentary member. The previously applied arrest was replaced with electronic monitoring, which S. Skvernelis appealed to court. A representative of the institution, E. Martinonienė, confirmed that the parliamentarian was ordered to wear the device.
The politician himself claims that such a measure does not correspond to the purposes of the proceedings and may have an unlawful effect on the investigation. He refused to discuss the situation in greater detail, stating that he is awaiting the court's decision.
Investigators believe they have sufficient evidence that S. Skvernelis, whilst serving as the head of parliament, accepted no less than 51 thousand euros in payment on several occasions in exchange for favouring decisions related to the work of the Plant Cultivation Service.
Included in the case is his former adviser A. Silickienė. The woman is suspected of contributing to the activity of a criminal group, collecting unlawful payments and potentially passing part of the money to the politician. She was previously assigned the same supervision measure – electronic monitoring.
Among the suspects are also former conservative K. Starkevičius and approximately fifteen other individuals. It is believed that all unlawfully transferred sums could have exceeded 1 million euros.
During the pre-trial investigation, it emerged that since last June the service head J. Kornijenko, adviser A. Šapranauskas and other individuals regularly collected money from companies transporting plant products in exchange for phytosanitary permits. The funds received were distributed amongst members of the group and certain politicians.
S. Skvernelis previously headed the police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Government. His residence in the Vilnius district, unlike the flat in Palanga, is not restricted.
Source: 15min.lt
Source: 15min