Social affairs minister fails to appear in mayor’s fuel voucher fraud trial

Lithuania’s Social Security and Labour Minister Jūratė Zailskienė did not attend a court hearing on Monday in the criminal case against Alvydas Vaicekauskas, the mayor of Prienai District, who is accused of submitting fraudulent fuel expense claims, LRT reports.

Zailskienė and her husband, Rimvydas Zailskas, were summoned to testify in Alytus District Court but did not appear. The minister’s official schedule states she is on annual leave for the week. Their testimony has been rescheduled for April 21.

The court also planned to question Vaicekauskas’s wife, Audronė Vaicekauskienė, but she declined to testify, citing her legal right to refuse evidence against a close relative. She also stated she had not received a formal summons.

The only witness heard on Monday was Roma Sinkevičiūtė, an employee of Prienai District Municipality. During a January hearing, Vaicekauskas denied charges of misappropriating over €1,000 in municipal funds and stated he would only testify after all witnesses had been heard. He provided no information to investigators during the pre-trial phase.

Vaicekauskas, a Social Democrat, allegedly falsified 17 expense reports between 2019 and 2023 while serving as a municipal council member, submitting inflated or fabricated fuel purchase claims. Prosecutors accuse him of using other individuals’ bank cards to pay for diesel and illegally obtaining €1,113 in reimbursements. He is further charged with abuse of office for exploiting his position to gain personal financial benefit.

The case was transferred to Alytus District Court in December after legal amendments reclassified abuse of office as a misdemeanour, allowing lower courts to handle such cases. Zailskienė previously served as director of Prienai’s municipal administration (2019–2023) and as an advisor to the mayor before entering parliament in 2024. She was appointed minister in September 2025.