The Seimas will vote on the cancellation of the mandate of V. Gapšis, who is serving his sentence in prison

According to Jurgis Razmas, the first vice-chairman of the Seimas, V. Gapšys should participate in the Seimas meeting.

“It was promised that he would be able to participate,” Mr. Razma told BNS.

This was confirmed by BNS and the Prison Service.

“(…) taking into account the need expressed by the Seimas office, Seimas member Vytautas Gapšys will be delivered to the m. December 21 The plenary session of the Seimas, where the issue of his impeachment will be decided,” she said.

The Statute of the Seimas stipulates that the person who is subject to impeachment has the right to participate in the Seimas session himself or through his lawyer.

In order for the mandate to be abolished, at least 85 members of the Seimas out of 141 must vote for it.

Since the indictment once morest V. Gapšis has entered into force, the impeachment process takes place in a simplified manner, that is, without an appeal to the Constitutional Court.

This politician was elected to the Seimas according to the list of the Labor Party. If the Seimas cancels his mandate on Thursday, V. Gapšis’ place in the parliament will be taken by another politician included in the Labor Party’s 2020 candidate list – Petras Čimbaras.

The Court of Appeal of Lithuania sentenced V. Gapšius to five and a half years of imprisonment for corruption crimes, he is currently serving time in Kaunas prison.

The court stated that Raimondas Kurlianskis, the former vice president of the concern “MG Baltic” (now “MG Grupė”), asked V. Gapšis, using his position as a member of the Seimas and his influence on fellow party members, to influence other civil servants – the then Speaker of the Seimas, members of the Labor Party faction in the Seimas, the Seimas Budget Committee and the management and members of the finance committee and the Minister of Agriculture, so that they act legally and illegally in the exercise of their powers as requested by R. Kurlianskis.

According to the court report, an illegal reward was agreed for this – disguised bribes, which, following V. Gapšius promised to influence the requested persons and he himself performed the actions requested by R. Kurlianskis, received an additional 12.1 thousand. EUR discount for the political advertising of the Labor Party and 15 thousand. EUR support to the public institution “Art and Sports Projects”.

V. Gapšys submitted a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court of Lithuania, together with a request to suspend the execution of the sentence, but the court did not grant this request.

V. Gapšys is serving his third term in the Seimas.

In this case of political corruption, the Labor Party, Liberalu sajūdis, concern “MG grupė”, R. Kurlianskis, former members of the Seimas Eligijus Masiulis, Gintaras Steponavičius, Šarūnas Gustainis were found guilty.