Lingė asks prosecutors to investigate Pinskus family estate

Conservative MP Mindaugas Lingė has asked the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Special Investigation Service to investigate the circumstances surrounding the construction of a family estate belonging to Širvintos District Mayor Živilė Pinskuvienė and her husband, Jonas Pinskus, LRT reports.

Lingė said he had approached the General Prosecutor’s Office to protect the public interest and the Special Investigation Service over possible violations. He asked the authorities to assess the legality of both the construction permit and a July 2 order related to the property.

According to Delfi, the permit for the Pinskus family estate was initially issued unlawfully. After the State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate began an inspection, the purpose and use of the plot were changed, potentially correcting the violation.

Lingė said the plot’s designation was changed from agricultural land to an area for residential buildings by Širvintos District Municipality administration director Ingrida Baltušytė, who was appointed to the position by Pinskuvienė.

Delfi reported that the municipality issued Živilė and Jonas Pinskus a permit in 2024 to build a residential building on a plot designated for agricultural use. A source told the portal that such a permit should conflict with legal requirements because the couple had publicly said they were not farmers.

The State Territorial Planning and Construction Inspectorate also confirmed to Delfi that the planned construction of a residential house with a garage did not correspond to the plot’s designation and permitted use recorded in the Real Estate Register.

However, in a submission to the General Prosecutor’s Office seen by ELTA, Lingė said the inspectorate concluded on July 30 that the construction permit had been issued lawfully after the builder removed the inconsistencies related to the plot’s designation and use.

Lingė argued that the law allows violations to be corrected, but only after an inspection report establishes that a permit was issued unlawfully. In his view, the order of events in this case was reversed.

“If the permit did not comply with the law on November 6, 2024, it does not become lawful because the register data were changed almost two years later,” Lingė wrote on Facebook, citing a 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court of Lithuania. He said the facts existing when construction began or when the permit was issued should be assessed.

Lingė asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of the construction permit issued by the Širvintos District Municipality administration in November 2024 and the administration director’s July 2 order changing the plot’s main land-use designation and permitted use.

He also asked that, if the administrative acts are found to be unlawful, prosecutors apply to a court of general jurisdiction for their annulment and for the consequences of the construction to be remedied.

In addition, Lingė asked prosecutors to assess whether the inspectorate’s July 30 conclusion complied with the law and whether it could prevent the public interest from being defended in court.

Gintarė Vitkauskaitė Šatkauskienė, chief specialist at the General Prosecutor’s Office’s Communications Division, told ELTA that Lingė’s submission had been received and was being examined by the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office.