Ethics commission to decide on Raudondvaris manor investigation

LRT, citing BNS, reported that Lithuania’s Chief Official Ethics Commission will decide on Wednesday whether to launch an investigation into possible violations at Raudondvaris Manor.

Commission deputy chair Virginija Aleksejūnė told BNS last week that the commission had received a request from Kaunas District Municipality. If the information provided is insufficient, the commission may decide to collect additional data.

The municipality has asked the commission to assess public procurement at the manor and the actions of Egidijus Morkūnas, who has been suspended from his position as deputy director for economic affairs. Kaunas District Mayor Valerijus Makūnas has also referred the matter to the Financial Crime Investigation Service and the Public Procurement Office.

Conservative lawmaker Mindaugas Lingė has said that the manor entered into procurement contracts with a company linked to Morkūnas. Between 2022 and 2026, the manor reportedly signed 29 non-competitive public procurement contracts with the company, worth more than 71,000 euros in total.

Following the disclosures, Kaunas District Municipality temporarily suspended the manor’s acting director, Kotryna Inga Morkūnaitė, and Morkūnas.

Politicians and the media began taking a closer look at employment practices and procurement at the manor after an LRT investigation raised questions about whether Aistė Sinkevičienė, the prime minister’s wife, may have held a fictitious job there. The investigation also found that more people linked to the Social Democrats had been employed at the manor.

Makūnas subsequently formed a working group to examine possible violations related to employment. The municipal administration has also launched an internal investigation involving the head of its Public and International Relations Division, where Sinkevičienė also works, and the division’s chief specialist.

The division was established after Sinkevičienė returned from maternity leave. She became its head without a competition, reportedly as a civil servant who had exceeded expectations. Sinkevičienė has rejected any influence by her husband over her career in the municipal administration and at the manor, citing her professional achievements and long-term work in Kaunas District’s public sector.

The parliamentary Anti-Corruption Commission has decided to assess possible systemic nepotism at the national level, including the situation at Raudondvaris Manor.

The ethics commission will also decide on possible undeclared private interests involving public figure and Vilnius Žalgiris president Andrius Tapinas. Questions about a possible conflict of interest arose after it emerged that Tapinas’s son had been hired in a commercial communications coordinator position advertised by Vilnius Žalgiris in May.