Prosecutors seek to recover over €43,000 from seven politicians
Prosecutors who conducted the investigation have submitted claims to courts seeking the recovery of unjustified compensation received by municipal council members from Rokiškis and Šiauliai.
Prosecutors seek to recover over €43,000 from seven politicians
Claims have been submitted to courts demanding that seven municipal council members from Rokiškis district and Šiauliai city return more than €43,000 to municipal budgets. According to prosecutors from the Public Interest Defence Division, these sums were received by politicians as unjustified expense compensation.
A representative of Panevėžys Regional Prosecutor's Office submitted six claims to Rokiškis District Court. One of them involves Audronė Elė Vilčinskienė, from whom €4,288 is being sought. During the previous term, she was reimbursed €4,347 for fuel. According to the prosecutor's calculations, with such a quantity of fuel, one could travel approximately 650 kilometres per month, or about 30 kilometres per day. Furthermore, the receipts show unusually large quantities of fuel purchased at once – up to 100 litres – even though such an amount does not fit in a standard passenger car fuel tank.
€8,212 is being sought from Dalia Lūžienė-Malijonienė. Although a municipal audit previously found that she was unjustifiably paid €2,391, which she has already returned, according to the prosecutor's assessment, unjustified compensation of more than €8,000 was issued. This quantity of fuel would allow travelling approximately 2,200 kilometres per month.
€7,816 is being sought from Vidmantas Karpavičius. He was reimbursed €7,927 during his term, but part of the sum – €1,888 – was allocated for fuel purchased during quarantine. Fuel was often filled up several times a day, and with the compensated quantity one could travel approximately 3,200 kilometres per month.
€10,496 is being sought from Dalia Maželienė. She received €11,440 during her term for fuel. The investigation showed that €899 was compensated for fuel purchased during quarantine, and fuel was purchased even on council session days. Payment was made using eight payment cards, three of which were also used by her spouse, council member Vidmantas Maželis, to pay for fuel.
€750 is being sought from the latter. He served as a council member for only five months, so such fuel expenses do not appear logical. Using average expenditure calculations, he could have travelled approximately 1,580 kilometres per month.
€8,861 is being sought from Dijana Meškauskienė. She was reimbursed €10,482 for fuel, but only slightly more than €2,000 was paid using personal cards.
A representative of Šiauliai Regional Prosecutor's Office appealed to court regarding Simona Potelienė. More than €3,000 is being sought from her. The investigation revealed that the majority of funds paid to her were not related to the performance of council member functions, taking into account actual participation in sessions. Some fuel was paid for using other persons' cards, some was purchased during quarantine or even before the start of her term.
Source: LRT.lt
Source: LRT