Undeclared lobbying
“What can I state – in our politics, unfortunately, undeclared lobbying has not yet been implemented, although there is an active law,” the Minister of National Defense told LRT radio on Monday.
“We should talk regarding not only passing laws so that there is no undeclared lobbying, but that there is real control and responsibility for it,” added A. Anušauskas.
This is what he said following he stated on Saturday following the meeting with the head of the country, Gitan Nausėda, that he “had to close the doors of companies” that tried to bribe employees of the national defense system.
According to the minister, those companies “found an open door to other politicians”, and in some cases of particularly gross interference in public procurements, law enforcement had to be introduced as well.
Nevertheless, he said that these were isolated cases.
“In any case, we were principled and in this case things did not lead to any transactions, we simply did not allow those things to develop”, said A. Anušauskas.
According to the minister, although it was not necessary to initiate pre-trial investigations, he added that he had consulted the Special Investigation Service (STT) and asked for its recommendations.
STT declared on Saturday that it is not conducting any investigations into the possible non-transparent public procurements in the Ministry of National Defense (KAM). However, on February 9, the service received one informative letter from the Ministry of the Interior regarding the questions submitted by the member of the Seimas, Raimundos Lopatas, to the ministry regarding organized public procurements.
R. Lopata said that he and A. Anušauskas explained the circumstances of anti-drone purchases.
The minister also confirmed that these statements are not related to his resignation.
On Friday, A. Anušauskas submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyta, and on Saturday, following the meeting with the President, he stated that the Prime Minister offered him to exchange duties with the chairman of one Seimas committee.
The Prime Minister’s proposal to withdraw was surprising
The minister said he was surprised when the prime minister asked him to step down.
If there were some political way to discuss more broadly involving the political community, then maybe there would be less of a surprise.
“If there was some kind of political discussion involving the political community more widely, then maybe there would be less surprise,” he said.
VIDEO: A. Anušauskas following his resignation: I thank everyone who worked together
When asked if the Prime Minister’s decision was influenced by his disagreements with the chairman of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielis Landsbergis, A. Anušauskas said he did not want to speculate.
“(…) We talked and tried to find common points of view. That was the case, and that’s why my opinion is not so important in this case,” said A. Anušauskas
The prime minister and the president discussed new candidates for the position of minister of national defense on Monday, and one candidate should be officially presented later this week. Laurynas Kasčiūnas, chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee, is mentioned among the possible candidates.
L. Kasčiūnas says that he would be ready to take up a new position, and his main task in the position would be to implement the principle of universal defense.
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2024-04-09 10:42:24
