Prosecutor: RMRačkauskas and the adviser obtained services exclusively from selfish incentives

The Supreme Court of Lithuania (LAT) on Tuesday began examining the case of RMRačkauskas and G.Maskoliūnienė, who were acquitted of abuse.

The above-mentioned persons were found guilty by the court of first instance of abuse of official position while acting in a group of accomplices, and acquitted by the court of appeal.

The cassation appeal requests the annulment of the acquittal judgment of the Lithuanian Court of Appeal and the indictment of the first instance court.

According to the prosecutor, the appellate court made a confusing statement after finding that no major damage had been done. According to him, the courts of first instance and appeals very clearly distinguished how much benefit the municipality received, and how much – RMRačkauskas and G.Maskoliūnienė.

The benefit, according to D. Valis, amounts to 20 thousand. euros, more than 4 thousand among them – services acquired exclusively for RMRačkauskas and G.Maskoliūnienei from selfish incentives, in order to remain in the positions in which they were.

Judge Albinas Antanaitis, criticizing the prosecutor’s complaint, said that RMRačkauskas did not comply with legal acts, broke the mayor’s oath.

As indicated in the cassation appeal of the prosecutor’s office, the court of appeals, which made the decision to acquit RMRačkauskas and G.Maskoliūnienė, made an unfounded conclusion that no significant damage was caused to the municipality, and also did not justify its verdict with detailed arguments, did not state reasons, did not link the actions of the accused.

“The illegal actions of a corrupt nature that Račkauskas has been accused of are dangerous enough to be recognized as criminal,” the prosecutor said at the court hearing on Tuesday.

RMRačkauskas’ lawyer, Valentinas Baltrūnas, stated at the hearing that the appellate court additionally interviewed the defendants, obliged the Special Investigation Service to submit other documents, therefore the arguments regarding the insufficient examination of the factual circumstances are groundless.

“The indictment itself was flawed, it states that Račkauskas received unpaid services for personal benefit, but the indictment did not detail what that benefit was,” said V. Baltrūnas on Tuesday.

At that time, G.Maskoliūnienė’s lawyer Snieguolė Jurskytė-Ignatavičienė said that the purchases were not intended for personal gain, and the public purchase took place because such services were provided for in the plans of the Panevėžys municipality in 2016-2017.

According to her, these were continuous projects, they did not affect society negatively, and trust in self-government did not decrease.

LAT will announce the ruling in this case on December 13.

Last year, the Šiauliai District Court found these defendants guilty by a verdict of January 24 last year because, as civil servants, acting in a group of accomplices, they abused their official position for the personal benefit of RMRačkauskas. The criminal case against the third defendant, the head of the advertising agency, Marius Vaupš, was terminated after his death.

The judgment of the court of first instance recognized that the mayor of Panevėžys, with the help of his adviser G. Maskoliūniene, gave illegal instructions to the employees of the Panevėžys municipal administration.

It was aimed that the company “Lukrecijos reklama” related to M.Vaupš won the public procurement tenders organized by the administration of Panevėžys city municipality in the field of publicity and communication. The scope of purchased services, technical specifications, service prices were coordinated with M.Vaupš in advance.

In addition, according to the data of the case, further cooperation was also agreed upon, that is, the administration of the Panevėžys city municipality will continue to purchase consulting services from the company represented by M. Vaupš in the future. In addition to the services officially purchased by the municipality, RMRačkauskas was also given personally, as a politician, useful consultations in preparation for the 2019 municipal mayoral elections.

Last week, the Supreme Administrative Court on Tuesday upheld the acquittal of the mayor of Panevėžys, in which he was acquitted of influence peddling and abuse.

The mayor did not plead guilty in any of the cases.