Saulius Skvernelis ordered to wear electronic monitoring device

A Lithuanian court has ordered MP Saulius Skvernelis, who is under investigation for alleged bribery in a high-profile agriculture case, to wear an electronic monitoring device, the General Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on Friday.

Elena Martinonienė, head of the prosecutor’s communications department, verified that the restrictive measure had been imposed on Skvernelis. Wearing an electronic monitoring device or being placed under intensive supervision is considered the second most severe pre-trial restriction in Lithuania, short of detention. Violating its terms can lead to arrest.

“Intensive supervision or an electronic tag is only possible by court order. It is a time-limited measure, with conditions reviewed periodically. The device allows monitoring of the person’s location, with restrictions set on where and when they may go,” explained Raimundas Jurka, a lawyer and professor at Mykolas Romeris University.

Skvernelis, a former Seimas speaker, is suspected of accepting bribes totalling €51,000 in cash via his advisor Agnė Silickienė between January and November 2025. Prosecutors allege the payments were made to secure favourable decisions for interested parties. Silickienė, who also worked at the State Plant Service—headed by Jurijus Kornijenko, another bribery suspect—allegedly passed Skvernelis between €5,000 and €10,000 each month.

The case involves a wider corruption scheme within the State Plant Service, where officials are accused of systematically demanding bribes from companies transporting plants and plant products in exchange for issuing phytosanitary certificates. The total sum of bribes may have reached €1.112 million, with around €250 requested per certificate. Payments were allegedly due by the 10th of each month.

Prosecutors believe Skvernelis was aware the money came from illicit gains tied to the bribery scheme. In April, charges were brought against 16 individuals, including organized crime figure Marijanas Taraškevičius and Vitalija Vonžutaitė, linked to the Labour Party case. Skvernelis is accused of using his position as an MP to influence institutional decisions, while Kornijenko and others allegedly arranged for bribes to be paid for certificates without proper cargo inspections, even when shipments were not in Lithuania.

Aurelijus Šapranauskas, an advisor at the State Plant Service, is said to have coordinated with transport companies to facilitate the payments.