Lithuanian social democrat leader denies links to Fegda

Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) leader Mindaugas Sinkevičius continues to deny any ties with Fegda, the company that poorly constructed a road to the Rūdninkai training ground, calling the public associations a fabricated story driven by business competition, LRT reports.

Sinkevičius insists he has no connection to the company or the road project beyond a brief employment period. “I can swear on my children’s lives that I have nothing to do with the road, with any fabricated stories, or with Fegda as a whole, except for the three months and two weeks I worked there,” he said in an interview with Laisvės TV.

He described the narrative as artificially constructed, suggesting it was a result of unfair business competition. “In my subjective opinion, this story, which has been given so much attention, was artificially created. I think it’s a very ugly consequence of business competition,” Sinkevičius stated.

While acknowledging the road’s defects, he denied any personal involvement in the project, which was overseen by the previous government. “The road had issues, and they are probably being fixed or will be fixed. But everything was framed differently—Sinkevičius, Fegda, some money,” he said.

Sinkevičius declined to specify who might have been behind the alleged smear campaign, citing legal concerns. “If I say this whole story is a product of business competition, then businesses and certain media are likely behind it. That’s my assumption, and it might be correct because I know what was created about me is fake,” he explained.

Fegda, part of the Fegda Group, has stated it plans to rebuild the 4 km road to the Rūdninkai training ground at its own expense by the end of the year. The Defence Ministry, which coordinated the project, initially only required repairs despite the identified defects. The road, built for €6.45 million, was completed in December 2023 and handed over to the Lithuanian military in spring 2024.

A ministry commission had previously confirmed the road’s poor construction. Earlier this year, the ministry announced a tender for a technical inspection but later cancelled it without explanation, maintaining its position that defects must be fully rectified at no additional cost to the state.