Lithuanian court transfers Skvernelis complaint to Kaunas

Lithuania’s Court of Appeals has ruled that a complaint filed by the lawyer of Saulius Skvernelis regarding his restrictive measures will be transferred to Kaunas District Court, LRT reports.

Skvernelis, who is under investigation for alleged bribery in a case involving the State Plant Service, had his pretrial restrictions tightened in July, requiring him to wear an electronic monitoring device. His lawyer submitted the complaint to Vilnius District Court, where it was assigned to judge Ugnė Gailiūnienė. However, both the prosecutor and the defence requested her recusal.

“We received two requests for the judge’s recusal—from both the prosecutor and Skvernelis’s lawyer. She recused herself,” Lina Nemeikaitė, a representative of Vilnius District Court, told BNS.

After the judge’s recusal, Vilnius District Court asked the Court of Appeals to transfer the case to another court. The Court of Appeals received the request on Monday and issued its decision on Tuesday.

“Today, a ruling was made to transfer the complaint to Kaunas District Court,” Venta Valčackienė, the Court of Appeals’ public relations assistant, told BNS.

Skvernelis has previously acknowledged formally violating an earlier restrictive measure—a written pledge not to leave or communicate with certain individuals—but argues that the electronic monitoring is excessive. He is suspected of accepting at least €51,000 in cash bribes on multiple occasions while serving as Speaker of the Seimas, in exchange for political favours related to the Plant Service’s operations.

Several others, including former Seimas member Kazys Starkevičius and Skvernelis’s former advisor Agnė Silickienė, are also under investigation in the same case. Silickienė, a former advisor to Skvernelis, is suspected of being part of a criminal organisation, accepting bribes, and possibly acting as an intermediary in passing money to the politician. She has also been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Prosecutors estimate the total bribes in the case may have amounted to at least €1,112,000.