This is how he commented on the “Skaidrinam” initiative of publicist Andrias Tapinas, which continues to investigate the use of parliamentary expenses by Seimas members.
According to L. Pernavos, following the cases in municipalities made public by “Skaidrinam”, STT started 25 pre-trial cases.
“What are our priorities?” Are our priorities the kind of research we’re talking regarding? (…) I think that we should focus on large-scale corruption, political corruption, cases of international bribery”, said the head of STT following the meeting with the president on Friday.
“We are not saying that there should be no other research, the priority should be here,” he added.
L. Pernavas says that he positively evaluates the initiative of “Skaidrinam”. He pointed out that the service submitted its comments and proposals on the regulation of parliamentary funds last summer.
“If decisions had already been made then, perhaps what we have now, we wouldn’t have,” said the head of STT.
“We can have one investigation or another, and what will change from that?” Nobody. In my opinion, it is necessary to take a responsible look at our proposals”, he added.
Last year, the Service carried out an anti-corruption assessment of the regulation of the expenses of parliamentarians and found that this legal regulation provides opportunities to compensate the expenses of parliamentary activities without proper performance of these activities.
According to STT, the settlement procedure for the use of these funds does not always provide an opportunity to assess whether the incurred expenses are used for parliamentary activities.
The service proposed to define in laws the concept of parliamentary activity and the content of necessary and reimbursable expenses for it, suggested strengthening control, for example, Seimas members should open a special bank account and pay parliamentary expenses incurred only from it.
STT then submitted its conclusion and proposals to the Seimas Board and Chancellery.
Member of the public A. Tapinas aims to reveal possible cases of inappropriate use of benefits in Lithuanian municipalities through the “Skaidrinam” campaign. Currently, the action has moved to the parliament, where the use of parliamentary funds allocated to members of the Seimas is being checked.
Responding to the action, Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen said that she promised to look for solutions with the elders of the factions, she also mentioned possible amendments to the Constitution.
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2024-05-04 14:57:37
