Prosecutors appeal for harsher sentence for Kaišiadorys mayor

Prosecutors have appealed against the sentence handed to Kaišiadorys Mayor Šarūnas Čėsna in the so-called receipts case, seeking a larger fine and a temporary ban on working in public service, LRT reported.

The Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office is challenging the punishment imposed for the misappropriation of municipal property. The first-instance court did not impose the requested ban on public service, and also handed Čėsna a smaller fine than prosecutors had sought.

On June 25, the Kaunas Regional Court found the mayor guilty of abuse of office, fraud and document forgery. It fined him 6,000 euros. The prosecutor had requested a 10,000-euro fine and a three-year ban on working in public service.

Čėsna said that while carrying out his duties and travelling to meetings with voters during election activities, he received transport assistance from relatives, political associates, close friends and acquaintances. He said he reimbursed them for fuel costs.

The Kaunas Regional Court accepted this explanation, saying witnesses who had provided the transport and made the payments had confirmed it. The court removed from the charges allegations that Čėsna had deliberately falsified documents and claimed 586.62 euros in expenses that he had not incurred.

Prosecutor Valentinas Alekna told ELTA that the prosecution disagreed with the court’s reasoning and was asking for the allegations removed from the charges to be recognised as proven. If a higher court finds that they were removed without sufficient grounds, prosecutors are seeking a harsher sentence, he said.

Mayor also appeals sentence

Čėsna’s lawyer, Liudas Paltanavičius, has also appealed to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal, asking it to overturn the conviction and terminate the case.

The defence argues that the first-instance court violated the law, failed to examine all the circumstances fully and impartially, assessed the facts incorrectly, relied on assumptions and selectively chosen evidence, and treated Čėsna’s testimony as a defensive version despite it being supported by witness statements and other case material.

The Lithuanian Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the case on December 2.

According to the case file, during the 2019 to 2023 term, when Čėsna was a member of the Kaišiadorys District Municipal Council, he allegedly falsified 42 expense reports by recording false information about transport and fuel costs.

Investigators allege that, in some cases, he paid for diesel using fuel cards issued to a company. They determined that he may have obtained 4,424 euros belonging to the Kaišiadorys District Municipal Administration by allegedly falsifying council member expense reports and submitting them to the municipality’s accounting department.

The case materials state that Čėsna included fuel bought with a card belonging to the company Telesita among his expenses as a council member.