Court upholds convictions of former Jurbarkas officials in corruption case

The Kaunas Regional Court has upheld the convictions of former Jurbarkas district municipal administration officials in a corruption case involving a sports ground renovation, LRT reported Tuesday, citing prosecutors and the Special Investigation Service.

The convicted include former administration director Vida Rekešienė, her former deputy Darius Juodaitis and two other municipal employees. Three people involved in carrying out and supervising construction work were also found guilty. The court imposed suspended prison sentences ranging from 18 months to two and a half years. Rekešienė, Juodaitis and two municipal specialists were also barred from working in public service for three years.

The court found that municipal employees obtained a targeted grant from the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport by submitting forged documents claiming that work had been completed on the sports ground at Naujamiesčio Basic School. The municipality later transferred the funds to a company that had not carried out the renovation or incurred the claimed expenses. The company went bankrupt without completing the work. The court said the municipality suffered property damage of 206,000 euros.

The construction supervisor was found guilty of abuse of office and document forgery but was released from criminal liability under a surety arrangement. The contractor’s site manager, identified as A. S., and commercial director, identified as P. A., were found guilty of document forgery and aiding public officials in abusing their positions.

The defendants were acquitted of misusing a loan, credit, targeted support, subsidy or grant, because their actions did not meet the criteria for a crime or criminal offence. The September 24 ruling took effect immediately but can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Lithuania within three months.

The case was heard on appeal for a second time after the Supreme Court overturned an acquittal in June last year. The Kaunas Regional Court had previously acquitted all defendants, finding that none knew or understood that the work described in the documents had not been done. The Supreme Court said the appellate court’s reasoning on evidence of document forgery was contradictory and inadequate.