The District Court of Vilnius City plans to question the then Minister of Health, now a member of the Seimas, Aurelijus Veryga as a witness during the hearing in the case of L. Jaruševičienė.
A. Veryga came to the court session, but after the ex-vice minister announced the dismissal of Gintars Plioplis, the prosecutor of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the questioning of the witness was postponed until the next session, on November 14.
“Suspension of 37 items, the meeting will not take place today, it is unlikely that we will solve the suspension issue today. Thank you for your participation, thank you for the ruined time – an unexpected turn”, said the judge in charge of the case, Eugenijušas Jaglinskis, to the witness A. Verygai, who was invited to the courtroom.
The judge allowed A. Veryga to leave.
A. Veryga held the position of Minister of Health Protection in 2016-2020. The deputy minister who worked in his team resigned in August 2020, after the law enforcement filed suspicions against her.
When the vice-minister stepped down, minister A. Veryga claimed that the health care system faced many challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, and quick and unconventional solutions had to be taken.
L. Jaruševičienė accuses the prosecutor G. Pliopli of being biased when investigating the case.
“The charge brought is unclear, false, contradicting the case material, the prosecutor performed his duties improperly and tendentiously, destroyed my justifying evidence,” L. Jaruševičienė told the court.
She said that her reputation was damaged, and in order to conduct an objective investigation of the case, it is necessary to change the prosecutor.
L. Jaruševičienė was also supported by her lawyer Rolandas Mištautas. He reminded that the case that started this investigation has been closed by the prosecutor’s office, and it was not renewed even after the inspection initiated by the general prosecutor.
In September, the General Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the pre-trial investigation on the 6 million the purchase of EUR worth of rapid tests for COVID-19 from the company “Profarma” was justifiably terminated, the resolutions adopted to terminate the pre-trial investigation regarding possible fraud and the legalization of assets obtained through criminal means remain valid as legal.
This purchase was carried out by the National Public Health Care Laboratory, its employees were questioned as witnesses in the case of L. Jaruševičienė.
“The political initiative to buy tests is legal, the head of operations, the minister made a legal decision, the purchasing organizations made a legal decision. Bias is the framing of an accusation. The punishment is also the process in which Lina Jaruševičienė participates, the court has the opportunity to stop illegal actions”, the lawyer told the court.
He believes that the current set of circumstances makes it doubtful that this prosecutor will ensure justice, because he is, according to the lawyer, biased.
Prosecutor G. Plioplys, who has been suspended, said that he views L. Jaruševičienė’s speech as a closing speech.
“It was interesting to listen to the statement, I was at one point scared of what the prosecutor had done. I heard the closing speech, the second time already, but this is not the stage. The grounds for suspension were not named, please reject the request”, prosecutor G. Plioplys said during the hearing.
The court will announce the suspension order on November 14.
In the case of L. Jaruševičienė, the investigation took place regarding NVSPL’s purchase of more than 500,000 from the company “Profarma”. rapid serological tests, for which over 6 million were paid. euros.
In the criminal case of L. Jaruševičienė, the pre-trial investigation took place regarding the laboratory’s purchase of more than 500,000 from the company “Profarma”. rapid serological tests, more than 6 million were paid for them. euros.
In the criminal case of L. Jaruševičienė, the pre-trial investigation took place regarding the laboratory’s purchase of more than 500,000 from the company “Profarma”. rapid serological tests, more than 6 million were paid for them. euros.
Last year, the Court of Appeals confirmed that the state overpaid for the tests, so it ordered two companies, including Profarma, to return more than 4 million euros to the state. euros. “Profarma” fulfilled the court decision and awarded 145 thousand. EUR paid to the state.
The indictment published by the Prosecutor General’s Office, G. Plioplis, states that in 2020, L. Jaruševičienė, as a civil servant of political trust, was suspected of abusing her office, as a result of which the state suffered great damage.
The indictment emphasizes that the damage and possibly illegal actions were done in the state during an emergency situation due to the coronavirus pandemic, the authority and prestige of the Ministry of Health Protection suffered in the eyes of the people, and the name of the civil servant was discredited.
According to the data of the case, it is believed that L. Jaruševičienė acted in the interests of “Profarma”.
According to the indictment, it is suspected that after the medical equipment company “Pro Aris” had already submitted a more economically beneficial offer – 3.74 euros without VAT per test unit – L. Jaruševičienė unjustifiably ordered to coordinate the order of rapid tests with the head of “Profarma”, even though their price fluctuated between 8 and 13 euros without VAT, depending on the quantity purchased.
The charges also state that L. Jaruševičienė illegally instructed to prepare a contract for the purchase of tests from Profarma within an hour and to pay 100 percent of the price in advance.
According to the prosecutor’s office, being misled, employees of the National Public Health Care Laboratory did not clarify the reasonableness of the price, prepared and coordinated documents for the purchase of tests worth millions. The necessary letters were also signed by the then Minister of Health Protection, head of operations A. Veryga.
L. Jaruševičienė rejects the accusations brought against her, she says that the decisions were made by the then Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis.
There are a total of 54 witnesses in the case.
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2024-09-29 04:52:13
