Year of the droid in China

 

“The Spring Festival Gala is a showcase both of China’s cultural riches and its technological might. The four-hour state television programme, staged in Beijing on the eve of each Lunar New Year, often features goose-stepping phalanxes of singing soldiers. On February 16th the centrepiece was a troupe of sword-brandishing humanoid robots performing an elaborate martial-arts routine. It was one of four humanoid-embellished acts that wowed viewers around the world.

 

China’s humanoid robotics industry is bustling. More than 14,500 automatons were delivered last year globally, up from around 3,000 in 2024, according to company reports and estimates from Omdia, a research firm. Nearly all came from China (see chart). Agibot and Unitree, the country’s two leading humanoid-makers, accounted for around three-quarters of the total; Elon Musk’s Tesla shipped just 150 of its Optimus bots. What is more, China is also home to the world’s deepest supply chain for humanoids.

 

This worries some in the West who believe that humanoids will eventually become one of the largest industries in the world. Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, reckons that 1bn could be wandering about by 2050, with annual spending in excess of $7.5trn. For now, however, the path from back-flipping bots to a viable business is unclear. Most humanoids being purchased are, like those at the gala, purely for show. Few do any real work.

 

China’s state will probably remain the biggest source of demand for some time. Without local governments buying the machines, it would be difficult to keep the more than 100 Chinese humanoid-makers alive—along with the thousands of suppliers that increasingly rely on them. It is not the first time China has lavished money on a new technology before there is much of a market for it. But doing so in the case of humanoids could prove a costly waste.

 

Behind China’s dancing robots is a rapidly expanding supply chain. Consider the Wujin district in the city of Changzhou. Its businessmen brag that around 90% of the parts needed to assemble a humanoid can be sourced there. Several known suppliers for Tesla’s Optimus hail from the district. RealMan, one of China’s largest makers of robot arms, quadrupled its production capacity in February when it opened a new factory in the area. At the sprawling facility a manager notes how the supply of land has tightened in the past year owing to new robotics plants opening up.

 

Wujin is just one node in a vast supply cluster for humanoid robots that stretches from Shanghai on the coast inwards to the lower parts of Jiangsu province (including Changzhou) and the upper parts of Zheijang province (including its capital Hangzhou). The region, known as the Yangtze River Delta, is home to Agibot, Unitree and many other humanoid-makers. Of the top 30 listed Chinese suppliers of parts used in robots, three-quarters by market capitalisation are based in the area (see map). The cluster is also home to artificial-intelligence labs such as DeepSeek, which is located in Hangzhou.

 

 Based in that city, too, is Alibaba, a tech giant which this month released RynnBrain [1], an advanced AI model for powering robots.

 

The region’s success reflects its role as an electric-vehicle (EV) hub, accounting for two-fifths of China’s production. High-torque motors, inverters, batteries, lidar sensors and other components are used in both EVs and humanoids, though their size often differs. In the past few years many suppliers to the EV industry, which is awash in overcapacity, have shifted at least in part to serving robot-makers. The region’s suppliers have also been investing in technologies once dominated by foreign firms. Fine Motion Technology, a maker of gearboxes, raised its share of the Chinese market for the rotating-vector reducers used in robots from a tenth in 2021 to a quarter in 2024, squeezing overseas rivals such as Japan’s Nippon Gear.

 

Show your metal

 

Visit the Yangtze River Delta and you will not have to look particularly hard to find a robot. One stands at a kiosk in downtown Hangzhou, serving coffee and other beverages. Botshare, a humanoid-rental service launched in Shanghai in December, supplies automatons to retailers who station them at their entrances to wave at guests as they enter.

 

An Agibot costs more than 100,000 yuan ($14,500) but can be rented for as little as 2,200 yuan.

 

The trouble is that, to become more than novel entertainment, robots need to be regularly deployed in settings where they do the same jobs as humans, allowing them to gather data on which they can be trained. That is why finding situations where humanoids can perform real work is so important for the industry, notes Alicia Veneziani of Sharpa, a Singaporean maker of robot hands that manufactures in Shanghai.

 

A tiny fraction of the humanoids sold today end up in factories, where they often carry boxes—and are about 30-40% as efficient as a human at doing so.

 

China’s state is eager to help. Local governments have been setting up centres that allow companies to put their robots to work on various tasks and collect data. Some is then pooled and shared. Shanghai has set up one such centre that can accommodate 100 humanoids. The state’s role is so pivotal that venture investors are picking robotics companies based not just on their technological capabilities but also on the local-government resources available to them, says one investor in Hangzhou.

 

The state has also given subsidies to the industry. Robotics has become a priority for local officials across the country, who hope to get a share of the industry within their tax jurisdiction. But the government’s most important role by far is as a buyer. It was the biggest purchaser of humanoids last year, according to industry insiders, and will probably remain so this year and next. Most are being used as frivolous showpieces. Agibots have lately become a staple of government parties in Shanghai.

 

China’s strategy carries risks. Accompanying the robotics buzz is a sense among executives and investors that the industry is getting ahead of itself. Wang Zhongyuan of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, a state-backed research lab, said in a speech last year that if mass production is not underpinned by real-world demand, public enthusiasm will be short-lived. If robots become widespread before they become useful, he explained, the humanoid bubble will burst.” [2]

 

1. Is RynnBrain open source? Can you teach it locally?

 

Yes, RynnBrain is open-source. Released by Alibaba's DAMO Academy in February 2026, RynnBrain is designed as an open-source embodied foundation model, aimed at enabling developers to build smarter robots with improved perception and action skills.

Here are the key details regarding this questions:

 

    Open Source Status: RynnBrain is designed to foster an open development ecosystem, with its training and inference frameworks based on the HuggingFace Transformers library, allowing researchers to access it.

 

    Local Use and Training: The models are designed for high efficiency, with technical documentation indicating they can run on hardware like a single GPU. 

 

The release includes fine-tuning capabilities for vision-language navigation, meaning you can train/adapt the model locally or on your own infrastructure.

 

RynnBrain is meant for "Physical AI," allowing robots to understand surroundings and execute tasks in the real world.

 

2. Year of the droid. The Economist; London Vol. 458, Iss. 9487,  (Feb 21, 2026): 61, 62.

Jei lustus galima finansiliazuoti, Volstritas tai padarys

 

„Šiais metais vos penkios Amerikos technologijų gigantės ketina atlikti 700 mlrd. JAV dolerių kapitalo išlaidų, nes investicijos į dirbtiniam intelektui reikalingus duomenų centrus sparčiai auga. Investuotojai jau seniai juokauja, kad „duomenys yra naujoji nafta“; dabar jie remia įmones, kurios išleis daug daugiau jų apdorojimui. Palyginimui, naftos ir dujų pramonė praėjusiais metais į žvalgybą ir gamybą investavo tik 570 mlrd. JAV dolerių.

 

Kita prasme duomenys – arba bent jau lustai, kuriuose jie saugomi ir tvarkomi – vis dar gerokai atsilieka nuo naftos. Grafikos procesoriai (GPU) vaidina nedidelį vaidmenį finansų rinkose. Tiesa, kai kurios paskolos juos naudoja kaip užstatą, tačiau juos vis dar sunku įvertinti ir parduoti. GPU išvestinių finansinių priemonių, kurios leidžia prekiautojams pasidalyti ir perleisti riziką (pvz., kainų kritimo riziką), rinkos praktiškai nėra. Todėl lustai ir jų generuojama apdorojimo galia (arba „skaičiavimas“) yra subrendę, kad juos finansuotų Volstritas – kaip ir nafta, būstas ir daugybė kitų turtų prieš juos. Naujų novatorių banga tikisi tai padaryti būtent tai.

 

Paimkime „OneChronos“ – finansinių technologijų įmonę, įkurtą 2016 m., siekiant padidinti akcijų prekybos efektyvumą. Bendrovė siekia iki birželio mėnesio sukurti skaičiavimo rinką, kurioje būtų galima parduoti prekių paketus aukcione. Ji bendradarbiauja su „Auctionomics“, kurią įkūrė Paulas Milgromas, 2020 m. laimėjęs Nobelio ekonomikos premiją. Taip pat yra „Ornn“, kuri sukūrė indeksą, stebintį lustų, įskaitant populiariąją „Nvidia H100“, kainas. Startuolis taip pat planuoja pardavinėti fizinių GPU pardavimo pasirinkimo sandorius – išvestinių finansinių priemonių sutartis, kurios išmokamos, jei kainos smarkiai krenta.

 

Galiausiai patikimų lyginamųjų indeksų ir likvidžių išvestinių finansinių priemonių rinkų derinys galėtų paremti obligacijas, užtikrintas GPU krepšeliais, panašiai kaip tas, kurios užtikrintos individualių paskolų paketais. Nedaug investuotojų turi išsamių žinių apie Kalifornijos vartotojus ar Ohajo biurų rinką. Nepaisant to, daugelis griebia obligacijas, užtikrintas kredito kortelių skolomis ir komercinėmis hipotekomis.

 

Norint sukurti tokią rinką, reikia įveikti keletą bauginančių kliūčių. Galbūt didžiausia iš jų yra ta, kad pažangiausi lustai linkę greitai prarasti savo vertę. nes į rinką ateina dar spartesni. „Morgan Stanley“ skaičiavimais, dėl to „Alphabet“, „Microsoft“, „Meta“ ir „Oracle“ per ateinančius ketverius metus gali užregistruoti 680 mlrd. USD vertės nusidėvėjimą. Bet koks toks įvertinimas yra labai neapibrėžtas, nes niekas negali tiksliai žinoti, kaip vystysis ši technologija. Tai kelia didelę riziką paskolų, užtikrintų GPU, pirkėjams, kurių kainos gali netikėtai smukti. Net ir dabar didžiausiems lustų pirkėjams palyginti naujausius modelius su prieš dešimtmetį pagamintais modeliais yra tas pats, kas lyginti viršgarsinį lėktuvą su arkliu ir vežimu.

 

Be to, kyla sunkumų prekiaujant skaičiavimais. Vartotojai turi būti gana arti savo duomenų centrų, kurie, skirtingai nei kuras, negali būti pervežami iš vienos vietos į kitą. Todėl kainos labai skiriasi priklausomai nuo regiono, nes prekybos srautams nėra lengva suderinti pasiūlą su paklausa.

 

Tačiau jei tokias kliūtis būtų galima įveikti, sudėtingesnių finansinių priemonių prizas būtų labai vertingas. Išvestinių finansinių priemonių sutartys galėtų padėti paskirstyti riziką – pavyzdžiui, kad tam tikros lustų rūšys staiga tampa bevertės – prekiautojams, kurie iš tikrųjų nori jas įsigyti mainais už priemoką. Tai galėtų leisti Įmonės, kurių verslo modeliai priklauso nuo GPU, turėtų mažiau nerimauti, kad jų turtas gali greitai pasenti, ir daugiau dėmesio skirti savo veiklos tobulinimui. Ir atvirkščiai, skaičiavimo ištroškusiems startuoliams būtų lengviau skolintis, jei jų paskolos galėtų būti užtikrintos lustomis, o tada sujungtos su kitomis ir parduotos kaip obligacijos.

 

 

Galbūt GPU inovacijų manija ir dėl to netikėto nuvertėjimo rizika turės šiek tiek atvėsti, kol finansalizacija galės vykti visu pajėgumu. Tačiau Amerikos vadovai, matantys galimą jos naudą, turi rimtų priežasčių optimizmui. Daugelis jų nerimauja, kad konkurentai, ypač Kinijoje, galėtų pasekti jų moksliniais ir technologiniais pasiekimais. Jie tikriausiai gali sau leisti mažiau nerimauti dėl grėsmių Amerikos išskirtinumui finansų inžinerijos srityje.

 

 

Techninės įrangos ir kietosios galios eroje lengva pamiršti finansinės architektūros, kuri gali sujungti susiskaidžiusias rinkas, svarbą.

 

 

Gebėjimas įkainoti, sujungti ir perkelti riziką yra didžiulis pranašumas. Tai gali išlaisvinti kapitalą, sumažinti skolinimosi išlaidas ir taip paspartinti ištisų pramonės šakų vystymąsi.

 

 

Ir finansų inžinieriai, ypač Vakaruose, tapo labai geri tai daryti. Jei lustai gali būti finansiliazuoti, tai padarys Volstritas.“ [1]

 

1. Plugging into the motherboard. The Economist; London Vol. 458, Iss. 9487,  (Feb 21, 2026): 72.

If chips can be financialised, Wall Street will do it

“This year just five American tech giants are set to make $700bn-worth of capital expenditure, as investment in the data centres needed for artificial intelligence surges. Investors have long quipped that “data is the new oil”; now they are backing firms to spend far more to process it. By comparison, the oil and gas industry invested just $570bn in exploration and production last year.

 

Yet in another sense, data—or at least the chips on which it is stored and manipulated—still lags far behind oil. Graphics processing units (GPUs) play a tiny role in financial markets. True, some loans use them as collateral, but they remain hard to price and to sell on. There is practically no market for GPU derivatives, which allow traders to parcel up and offload risks (such as that of a price crash). Chips and the processing power they generate (or “compute”) are therefore ripe to be financialised by Wall Street—just like oil, housing and myriad other assets before them. A wave of new innovators hopes to do just that.

 

Take OneChronos, a fintech firm established in 2016 to make share-trading more efficient. The company aims to launch a market for compute, on which bundles of goods can be auctioned, by June. It has paired up with Auctionomics, co-founded by Paul Milgrom, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2020. Then there is Ornn, which has launched an index tracking the prices of chips, including Nvidia’s popular H100. The startup also plans to sell put options—derivative contracts that pay out if prices fall sharply—on physical GPUs.

 

Eventually, the combination of trusted benchmarks and liquid derivatives markets could support bonds collateralised by baskets of GPUs, much like those backed by bundles of individual loans. Few investors possess detailed knowledge of Californian consumers or Ohio’s office market. Many nevertheless snap up bonds collateralised by credit-card debt and commercial mortgages.

 

To build such a market, some fearsome obstacles must be overcome. Perhaps the biggest one is that the most advanced chips tend to lose their value fast, as even whizzier ones come to market. Morgan Stanley estimates that this could prompt Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle to record depreciations worth $680bn over the next four years. Any estimate like this is subject to huge uncertainty, since no one can know for sure how the technology will progress. This represents a big risk to buyers of loans collateralised by GPUs that might unexpectedly tumble in price. Even now, for the biggest buyers of chips, comparing the most recent models to those of a decade ago is like comparing a supersonic jet to a horse and cart.

 

Then there are the difficulties with trading compute. Users need to be fairly close to their data centres, which, unlike fuel, cannot be shuttled from one place to another. And so prices vary a lot from region to region, since it is not easy for trade flows to match supply to demand.

 

If such obstacles could be overcome, however, the prize of more sophisticated financial instruments would be a hugely valuable one. Derivative contracts could help allocate risks—that particular types of chip suddenly become worthless, for instance—to traders who actually want to take them, in exchange for a premium. That might allow companies with business models which depend on GPUs to worry less that their assets might rapidly become obsolete and focus more on improving their operations. Conversely, compute-hungry startups would find it easier to borrow if their loans could be collateralised with chips, then bundled together with others and sold as bonds.

 

Perhaps the frenzy of innovation in GPUs, and hence their risk of unexpected depreciation, will have to cool a little before financialisation can proceed at full throttle. But American executives eyeing its potential benefits have good cause for optimism. Plenty of them worry that competitors, especially in China, could emulate their scientific and technological achievements. They can probably afford to fret less about threats to America’s exceptionalism in the field of financial engineering.

 

In an era of hardware and hard power, it is easy to forget the importance of the financial architecture that can join up fragmented markets.

 

The ability to price, bundle and transfer risk is an enormous advantage. It can unlock capital, lower borrowing costs and thereby speed the development of entire industries.

 

And financial engineers, especially in the West, have become very good at doing so. If chips can be financialised, Wall Street will do it.” [1]

 

1. Plugging into the motherboard. The Economist; London Vol. 458, Iss. 9487,  (Feb 21, 2026): 72.

Why has the entire Lithuanian elite rotted?

 

 

Skvernelis, Starkevičius, Eligijus Masiulis, Paluckas – the entire Lithuanian political spectrum lives and conducts politics on the basis of large bribes. If the Russians started catching them and seriously punishing them, they would not write books. The West does not care, because the West only needs our cheap labor force and markets. Therefore, our entire elite is against the Russians and is fighting for the West.

 

“The prosecutor’s request for the abolition of S. Skvernelis’ immunity mentions the sum of 51,000 euros

 

Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė will ask the Seimas to abolish the legal immunity of MP Saulius Skvernelis.

 

Added information from the prosecutor’s appeal

 

Prosecutor General N. Grunskienė today signed and sent an appeal to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania for the abolition of the legal immunity of Seimas member S. Skvernelis,” the Prosecutor General’s Office reported on Thursday.

 

The aim is to destroy S. Skvernelis' immunity in order to bring charges against him.

 

It is announced that N. Grunskienė's request was submitted after assessing the currently available data in the pre-trial investigation initiated last year regarding the possible corruption and other acts committed by the heads, employees and other persons of the State Plant Service (VAT) who acted in an organized group.

 

The Prosecutor's Office indicates that during the pre-trial investigation, data was obtained about the possible criminal act committed by the politician, as provided for in Article 225, Part 3 of the Criminal Code.

 

This article provides that a civil servant who, for his own benefit or that of others, directly or indirectly, himself or through an intermediary, promises or agrees to accept or demands or provokes to give, or accepts a bribe worth more than EUR 18,500 for a lawful or unlawful act or omission in the exercise of his powers, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of two to eight years.

 

The request submitted by the Prosecutor General to lift the immunity of the MP is being considered and adopted in the Seimas, which requires the consent of at least 71 MPs.

J. Olekas: the amount of EUR 51,000 is mentioned

 

The Speaker of the Seimas, Juozas Olekas, claims to have received an appeal from Prosecutor General N. Grunskienė to the Seimas regarding the lifting of the legal immunity of MP Saulius Skvernelis.

 

“There is a request for the Seimas to agree to hold the Seimas member criminally liable. This means that, apparently, first the Seimas member himself will decide whether a commission needs to be formed or whether he himself waives his immunity and then the Seimas will decide,” J. Olekas told journalists in the Seimas on Thursday.

 

According to the head of the Parliament, this issue is included in the agenda of the Seimas sitting to be held on Tuesday.

 

J. Olekas also said that the prosecutor’s letter mentions the amount of EUR 51,000.

 

“I cannot comment yet, I am not familiar with all the details that are available. Having received this information, I wanted to inform you so that there are no ambiguities. (...) Each such case deals a certain blow to the authority of the Seimas, and it seems to me that all people entering politics should think about whether they can participate in politics,” he said.

Prosecutor’s Office: Bribes received for favors in assessing the activities of the VAT

 

N. Grunskienė’s letter to the Seimas, which was seen by BNS, states that the politician accepted at least EUR 51,000 in cash bribes on several occasions for political favors in the exercise of his powers related to the activities of the VAT.

 

The document states that since June 2025, the former head of the service, Jurijus Kornijenko, his advisor Aurelijus Šapranauskas and other individuals distributed the bribes received every month to members of the criminal group and other individuals, including S. Skvernelis.

 

It is indicated that these circumstances are recorded in the accounting records, in which S. Skvernelis is assigned the nickname "Krabas".

 

During the period from June to November of last year, J. Korniyenko transferred bribes every month to S. Skvernelis' advisor Agne Silickienė. The latter transferred 51,000 euros to the parliamentarian in bribes ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 euros on several occasions.

 

"Saulius Skvernelis accepted at least 51,000 euros in cash bribes for his political favor in exercising his powers related to the activities of the VAT, i.e. ensuring political favor in assessing the activities of the VAT after receiving complaints, ensuring the official positions of the VAT director J. Korniyenko and other persons participating in the organized group in the VAT, as well as the selection of VAT employees, thus creating opportunities for members of the organized group to take bribes," the letter states.

 

In the pre-trial investigation into corruption at the Plant Protection Service, 14 individuals have been charged.

 

The letter states that J. Kornienko and other individuals, acting in an organized group, agreed in February-May 2025 to demand bribes from persons representing companies for the issuance of phytosanitary certificates without physically inspecting the cargo or even when it was not on the territory of Lithuania.

 

“They agreed (...) to accept (...) cash received from companies, bribes of a total value of at least 250 MGL (18,500 EUR) each month for the favor of J. Kornienko, as the director of the VAT, and the conditions for obtaining certificates without inspecting the composition of the cargo – receiving a bribe of at least 250 EUR for each issued a phytosanitary certificate for transported cargoes of plants and plant products to a legal entity,” it states.

 

According to the prosecutor’s office, from June to December 2025, members of an organized group accepted at least 1.112 million euros in bribes through A. Šapranauskas for phytosanitary certificates issued by employees of the Kaunas and Alytus territorial divisions of the VAT.

 

The members of the organized group divided this part among themselves and handed it over to state politicians, including S. Skvernelis, for “political favors.”

S. Skvernelis suspends party membership

 

S. Skvernelis says he is suspending his membership in the Democratic Union “For the Name of Lithuania,” which he leads, but insists that he will not give up his parliamentary mandate.

 

“At this moment, the most important thing for our political force is to move forward, so I have made a decision – I am suspending my membership in the party,” the politician wrote on the social network “Facebook” on Thursday.

 

“We are a strong community and we have several leaders who have already gained the public’s trust, who I believe will allow the party to remain constructive and continue the work it has begun,” the former head of the Seimas said.

 

He also stressed that he had not decided whether to waive his legal immunity through a simplified procedure.

 

“I will think about it, I don’t know, I haven’t seen the text, the application itself, so we will look at it, consult with lawyers, and make a decision (on the simplified procedure – BNS),” the leader of the Democratic Union “For the Sake of Lithuania” told BNS on Thursday.

 

Among other things, the politician himself does not promise to withdraw from the Seimas: “I have made up my mind, I will not give up my mandate.”

 

Commenting on the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office to apply to the Seimas regarding his immunity, the politician claimed that he was surprised.

 

"I was surprised, I didn't expect it, but I took this news calmly. It's hard to say what we'll do next - we'll defend ourselves with legal measures," S. Skvernelis said.

 

In early February, S. Skvernelis was questioned as a special witness during the investigation into possible corruption at the Plant Breeding Service.

 

At that time, an attempt was made to question conservative Kazys Starkevičius, but the latter refused to give evidence to law enforcement. A little later, the politician renounced his mandate as a member of the Seimas and suspended his membership in the Conservative Party.

 

In order not to undermine the pre-trial investigation, the prosecutor's office told BNS on Thursday that it could not provide information on whether charges have already been brought against K. Starkevičius in this case.

 

In the pre-trial investigation into corruption at the Plant Breeding Service, charges have been brought against 14 individuals.

 

Among the suspects is Yuri Korniyenko, who was appointed head of the Plant Protection Service by K. Starkevičius, while he was the Minister of Agriculture. Suspicions have also been brought against Agne Silickienė, a former advisor to S. Skvernelis, who worked in the service.

 

According to the investigation, large bribes were systematically demanded and received from representatives of companies transporting plants and plant products for phytosanitary certificates issued by the Plant Protection Service to transporters of such cargo.

 

Earlier, during searches, 1.3 million euros in cash, eight kilograms of gold worth about 1 million euros, explosives, and cocaine were found."

 

Orbit Comment

“Eligijus Masiulis is smoking in the corner with his empty box of whiskey… Today’s hero - traffic police inspector He learned to take it back in1998. In Trakai. At the Gen. Commissariat, he already took a big way (what did he build a house out of) chancellor Algirdas who was in charge of the economic part + affairs with Darka, Bieliauskas and what… This was followed by the adventures of Cabinet 339, which were crowned by the story of the road. Well, having gained courage and having come to terms with the aura of inviolability,he began to take a lot…”

 

 

Sources: Allegations brought against G. Paluckas’ wife

“Allegations have been brought against Ilma, the wife of former Prime Minister Social Democrat Gintautas Paluckas, in a pre-trial investigation, the Delfi news portal reported on Thursday. This was confirmed to it by two unrelated sources.

 

The Prosecutor General’s Office neither confirmed nor denied this information, noting that all publicly available information about the investigation has been provided at this time.

 

“All publicly available information about the investigation has been provided at this time, which will be supplemented later when it no longer harms the investigation,” said Rita Stundienė, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s Office.

 

A similar response was provided to BNS by Renata Keblienė, a representative of the Special Investigation Service (STT).

 

“For now, the position of the investigators and prosecutors controlling the investigation is that any more detailed information at this time may harm the investigation,” said R. Keblienė.

 

“During the investigation, pre-trial investigation actions are being carried out, data is being collected and evaluated,” the STT representative indicated.

 

According to the STT, this pre-trial investigation is being conducted regarding corruption crimes provided for in the Criminal Code – abuse of power and illicit enrichment.

 

I. Paluckė herself did not comment on the information about the allegations brought against her.

 

Social Democrat G. Paluckas is not commenting on the information about the allegations brought against his wife by law enforcement.

 

“I do not comment on anything. You ask the law enforcement institutions, they will provide answers," the former prime minister told reporters in the Seimas on Thursday. "I will neither confirm nor deny anything. You have such information, to the extent that the law enforcement institutions have provided. I cannot comment on anything more."

 

"I will definitely not comment on any moments of the investigation. The law enforcement institutions comment, as much information as they provide, that's all there is," he added.

Will not become a burden for the party

 

Mindaugas Sinkevičius, chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), says that the politician will not become a greater burden for the party.

 

"I do not think that Mr. Paluckas has become a greater burden after the information published today, I think that he will keep his word, but let's wait for the prosecutor's office to take steps, when they will be or will not be. It is very difficult to speculate about the future now," the social democrat leader told reporters in the Seimas on Thursday.

 

"The word was that he is considering and reflecting on what he would do if the Prosecutor General comes to the Seimas and asks to lift his legal immunity, he is considering (...) how he should act, but he has not made any decisions yet," M. Sinkevičius assured.

 

The LSDP chairman assured that he has no further knowledge about the published information, and also said that he does not know whether the Prosecutor General intends to apply for the lifting of G. Paluckas' legal immunity.

 

He also emphasized that his colleague is an experienced politician, therefore he will make decisions after properly assessing both his own circumstances and the party's situation.

 

BNS wrote that this pre-trial investigation was launched last summer after journalistic investigations into the politician's past, when information from Laisvės TV and the investigative journalism center Siena showed that G. Paluckas acquired and managed the company Sagerta, which was granted 180,000 euros in unpaid loans of unknown origin.

 

Questions have also been raised regarding the politician's purchase of an expensive apartment in Vilnius.

 

G. Paluckas was questioned by the STT in February as a special witness regarding possible abuse and illicit enrichment.

 

The European Public Prosecutor's Office and the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT) are also conducting a pre-trial investigation into possible credit fraud, which was launched after Laisvės TV and Siena reported on a preferential loan granted to the prime minister's company Garnis from the national development bank ILTE.

 

After law enforcement launched these investigations, G. Paluckas resigned from his positions as Prime Minister and Chairman of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party in August last year, but remained in the party and in the Seimas.”