Association urges Matjošaitytė to recuse herself from LRT council

The Journalists’ Professional Association has urged Laura Matjošaitytė to recuse herself from decisions and votes by the council of Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), LRT reported. If she does not do so, the association says the council should consider removing her from its activities.

Association chair Birutė Davidonytė announced the appeal on Facebook on Monday morning.

“Today, the Journalists’ Professional Association appealed to LRT council member L. Matjošaitytė to recuse herself from decisions made by the LRT council. If she does not do so herself, we urge the LRT council to consider the issue of removing her from the council’s activities,” Davidonytė wrote.

The Lithuanian Bar decided last Friday to open an investigation into legal services that Matjošaitytė, a member of the Central Electoral Commission and a lawyer, allegedly provided to the Nemunas Dawn party without declaring them. The Central Electoral Commission also opened an investigation last Thursday.

According to commission chair Lina Petronienė, the commission contacted Nemunas Dawn several times about consultations provided by its member, but the party submitted only formal responses.

“Given that Nemunas Dawn has in recent years been one of the main political forces initiating amendments to LRT’s governance and the status of its management, which have been controversially assessed and caused considerable tensions in society, L. Matjošaitytė’s links with this party raise not only a narrow conflict-of-interest issue related to individual questions, but also a broader concern about confidence in her impartiality,” Davidonytė wrote.

The association is therefore urging Matjošaitytė to recuse herself from decision-making and voting on the LRT council until the competent institutions complete their assessments.

LRT reported last week that the Central Electoral Commission had established from metadata that Matjošaitytė prepared Nemunas Dawn’s response to the commission two years ago on issues related to the party membership fee.

Davidonytė said that undeclared ties with a political party “cast a shadow over the entire LRT council.”

She said that justified questions had been raised about Matjošaitytė, who chairs the LRT council’s Audit and Risk Management Committee, and that publicly presented evidence and institutional investigations damaged confidence in the council’s decisions.

Davidonytė also questioned whether political influence was being exerted on the public broadcaster’s decisions through Matjošaitytė and whether confidential council information was being passed outside the council.

She said published correspondence showed that Matjošaitytė had allegedly taken steps to conceal potentially unlawful activity and had asked the party to delete her metadata so that traces of the cooperation would not remain. According to Davidonytė, the Central Electoral Commission has confirmed that Matjošaitytė’s data appeared on a document submitted to the institution in the party’s name.

“All these actions took place when L. Matjošaitytė was already serving as an LRT council member, but she did not declare them to the public or, as we understand it, to the LRT council,” Davidonytė wrote.

The LRT council has been urged to consider whether Matjošaitytė’s personal interests conflict with those of the public broadcaster as she performs her duties as a council member.

The Central Electoral Commission, the Bar Council and the Chief Official Ethics Commission have received complaints concerning Matjošaitytė’s consultations for Nemunas Dawn. The ethics commission decided to collect additional information before deciding whether to open an investigation.