Electoral Commission: "Nemuno aušra" breached election finance rules, party leader promises court battle
The Central Electoral Commission recommends finding that the "Nemuno aušra" party and its chairman Remigijus Žemaitaitis grossly violated election campaign financing laws. The politician has vowed to challenge the decision in court.
Electoral Commission: "Nemuno aušra" breached election finance rules, party leader promises court battle
The Central Electoral Commission (VRK) recommends determining that the political force "Nemuno aušra" together with its leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis grossly violated election campaign financing regulations. Speaking publicly this week, the parliamentarian announced he would pursue the matter through the courts.
In an interview with radio station R., Žemaitaitis characterised the investigation as meaningless. According to him, Lithuanian citizens are permitted to donate their earned income, a share of profits or other lawful revenue, provided that mandatory taxes are paid on them. He predicted a lengthy chain of disputes and stated that the commission's aim was to completely destroy the political formation he leads.
The Member of Parliament also assured that the loss of state-allocated funds does not frighten him. According to him, the party operates successfully even without subsidies, as public support is substantial.
The commission's inspection revealed that during the 2024 parliamentary election campaign, the campaign could have been funded by legal entities and sums transmitted through intermediaries. Such a practice is treated as a serious breach of electoral law. It is suspected that the political force accepted improperly documented membership fees totalling 4,300 euros, part of which came from company accounts.
The investigation also revealed that the party chairman's deputy Robert Puchovičius could have been the principal fund transferrer. Holding all shares in the companies "Tvari statyba" and "Lajota", he transferred 24,200 euros for the parliamentary election and a further 4,500 euros for advertising for R. Žemaitaitis's presidential candidacy.
Additionally, it was established that R. Puchovičius sent money to family members who subsequently declared it as their membership contributions. Among such persons are the politician's wife Eva Puchovič (1,500 euros) and father Edvardas Puchovičius (2,500 euros). The latter paid from funds received from his son because his personal account lacked sufficient balance. For these reasons, the VRK recommends recognising violations by both the aforementioned individuals and the party itself.
The commission also proposed deferring the decision on returning 28,500 euros of unlawfully obtained revenue to the state treasury until the matter of budget allocations to political forces is examined. Additionally, it is proposed to require R. Žemaitaitis to transfer 9,500 euros to the state treasury within 20 working days for unlawful financing collected during the presidential election campaign.
ELTA recalls that the VRK in March already decided that "Nemuno aušra", by leasing cars from R. Žemaitaitis and party vice-chairman Daiva Petkevičienė and paying for the lease from state budget funds, used them contrary to their intended purpose and presented incorrect data in financial statements.
The party could not justify 49,500 euros in expenditure. These violations were recognised as gross, and on 2 April the commission decided not to allocate to the party a six-month subsidy exceeding 240,000 euros. Lithuania's Supreme Administrative Court upheld this decision.
The VRK also instructed R. Žemaitaitis to return 26,776 euros to the party and D. Petkevičienė to return 15,349 euros.
Source: LRT
Source: LRT