The prosecutor’s office will seek to sentence almost 17 thousand. euros from a former Tauragė council member

The prosecutor’s office, having evaluated the information published in the public space regarding the possibly illegally used benefits for the performance of the functions of a member of the Tauragė district municipal council, started an investigation in May of this year.

The purpose of the investigation is to assess whether the allowances paid to the members of the aforementioned municipal council, intended to cover expenses related to their activities as council members, are used rationally, purposefully and legally, or whether the public interest is not violated.

Julius Kalinskas / 15min photo/Taurage municipality

Part of the funds were returned

During the ongoing investigation, it was established that in 2019-2023, the former member of the Tauragė District Municipal Council Tomas Alijošius entered into a car rental agreement with his spouse’s individual company, in which he held a managerial position. On the basis of these contracts, T. Alijošius provided invoices and expense reports to the municipality of Tauragė district as documents justifying the expenses of the council member.

It was established that according to the above-mentioned documents, the municipality allocated more than 19 thousand to pay for the activities of the former council member during the years 2019-2023. EUR, of which 18.5 thousand The car rental fee was EUR.

In the prosecution’s lawsuit, it should be noted that during the quarantine (March-June 2020 and from November 2020 to April 2021), when Council and committee meetings were held remotely and communication was limited, T. Alijošius submitted documents to the municipality regarding the maximum amount of expenses for renting a car.

Aurelijos Jašinskienė/15min.lt photo/Tauragė

According to the available data, in July of this year, the former member of the council returned 1,720 euros to the municipality of Tauragė district as unreasonably used.

The contract is requested to be annulled

After evaluating all the data and factual circumstances relevant to the investigation, it can be concluded that the aforementioned car rental contracts were concluded without the intention of creating real civil legal relations, contradict the principles of conduct of participants in civil relations and, thus, violate the provisions of public order and good morals. Having established that the former member of the council concluded null and void transactions with his spouse, it is considered that he did not justify the expenses incurred in his activities as a member of the council.

October 30 The prosecutor of the Public Interest Protection Department of the Klaipėda District Prosecutor’s Office appealed to the Tauragė City Hall of the Tauragė District Court regarding the recognition of the aforementioned transactions as invalid and unjustified enrichment.

The prosecutor requests to declare the aforementioned car rental contracts null and void and to award 16,782 euros from the former council member in favor of the Tauragė district municipality. It should be noted that the investigation of the other members of the council is still ongoing.