Lithuanian social democrats will not pressure coalition partners over data breach investigation

The leader of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), Mindaugas Sinkevičius, has stated that his party will not pressure its coalition partners on how to vote regarding the establishment of a temporary parliamentary commission to investigate the data breach at the Centre of Registers (RC).

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Sinkevičius said he would seek to discuss the issue with his partners but would not dictate their stance. “So far, since I am not participating in the Seimas work, I have not heard any complaints from our senior members, so there will be an opportunity to discuss. I understand that the vote is not final, it is only at the submission stage, so perhaps there will still be an opportunity to convince colleagues that maybe we should look at this issue differently,” he said.

On Thursday, 61 members of the Seimas supported the initiative to establish the commission in its first vote, with 21 against and 25 abstentions. All six participating Democrats voted in favour of the project.

The parliamentary investigation aims to answer 19 questions, primarily focused on identifying political responsibility for the leaked data from the Centre of Registers.

On the same day, the LSDP, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union, and the Democratic Union “For Lithuania” factions in the Seimas also signed a coalition agreement.

“We will not force our colleagues to do anything. I think that after today’s signing, we are united by partnership, agreement, and the search for common solutions. No one is superior or dictatorial, regardless of the size of the factions or the mandate received from the people, we all consider each other equal,” the LSDP leader assured.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, the interim chairman of the Democrats, stated that the commission’s goal is not to start a “witch hunt” but to understand why the incident occurred and how to prevent it from happening again, as well as to determine the necessary investments in this area.

“Why this investigation is necessary—it is not some kind of witch hunt against anyone. Nevertheless, we fully understand our responsibility to the country’s residents for the data that was leaked, that was lost, and is now living its own life. We need to know why it happened, why mistakes were made, and what kind of mistakes,” he said.

According to V. Sinkevičius, the new coalition should find an agreement on cybersecurity issues, as this is no less important than physical security, such as protection from drones.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has been investigating the incident since mid-April, in which more than 600,000 real estate records may have been stolen from the Centre of Registers. The number of affected residents is around 0.5 million, and the damage caused is estimated at no less than 111,000 euros.

After the incident became public and following the advice of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy and Innovation, the former head of the Centre of Registers, Adrijus Jusas, resigned. Giedrius Cininas, the head of the Prevention Department, is currently acting as director.

It has been reported that the data may have leaked through the accounts of Migration Department employees. The first cases of the breach were recorded in January, but the incident was made public at the end of May.