"On November 22, the Court of Appeal will announce the
verdict in the case of possible political corruption of the concern MG Grupė,
formerly known as MG Baltic. This verdict can still be appealed to the Supreme
Court.
It was completed in June, but the decision had to wait for
several months because, as Albinas Bielskis, the judge of the panel that
examined the case explained, "the volume of the case is huge".
The verdict of the appellate court will enter into force on
the day of publication, but within three months it can still be appealed to the
Supreme Court.
During the appeal procedure, the prosecutor's office seeks a
guilty verdict against the defendants who were acquitted by the court of first
instance. Prosecutors seek to find the former vice-president of the
MG Baltic
concern Raimondas Kurlianskis guilty of bribing several politicians and
influence trading in order to make decisions beneficial to the concern, and
sentence him to seven and a half years in prison.
Eligijus Masiulis, the former
chairman of the Liberal Movement, is asked to be sentenced to seven years in
prison.
In this criminal case, accusations have also been brought
against Vytautas Gapšius, a member of the Seimas, and two former
parliamentarians - Gintarus Steponavičius and Šarūnas Gustainiis. They, with
the exception of G. Steponavičius, are accused of receiving bribes in various
forms from MG Baltic representatives for the adoption of political decisions in
the Seimas that benefit the concern. G. Steponavičius is accused of abuse, in the
absence of signs of bribery.
The former "worker", member of the Seimas V.
Gapšius, is requested to be sentenced to six and a half years in prison, to
collect EUR 27,000 received as bribes for the benefit of the state, and to
deprive of the right to hold positions in the public and private sector for seven years of possibility to work.It was suggested that ex-parliamentarian Š.Gustainis be fined more than EUR
28,000, collect another EUR 8,700 as an indirectly received bribe, and be
deprived of the right to hold positions in the public or private sector for
five years.
Another former liberal and member of the Seimas, G.
Steponavichius, is requested to be fined almost EUR 17,000 and banned from
holding office for seven years.
Concern "MG grupė" as a legal entity is requested
to allocate approximately 1.5 million EUR as a fine. A fine of 0.565 million was imposed
on the Liberal movement, the Labor Party - almost EUR 0.373 million fine.
The Vilnius District Court acquitted all the defendants in
April of last year as having not committed acts that had the characteristics of
a criminal act. The court confirmed the version of E. Masiulis and R.
Kurlianskis that in 2016 handing over EUR 90,000 to a politician in a vodka
bottle box was a loan, not a bribe.
E. Masiulis said that he borrowed money from R. Kurlianskis
for investments in real estate, and R. Kurlianskis said that he supported the
liberal's political activities because he liked him.
Such a decision of the district court, which was approved a
year and a half ago, caused a public debate about whether corruption cases are
properly investigated and whether the criminals are given fair punishments.
Similar discussions arose these days, when the Kaunas
District Court sentenced Vilius Šiliauskas, the former director of the
administration of the temporary capital municipality, to a lesser punishment
than that provided for in the Criminal Code - for taking a bribe worth a
quarter of a million, he was not sentenced to imprisonment for up to 8 years,
but a fine of EUR 65,000." [1]
People, vodka is a universal medicine in Lithuania, vodka cures all diseases, including cancer, and all criminal acts, including bribery. Go for it.
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