All 29 former Vilnius district councillors repay public funds

All 29 politicians who served on the Vilnius district municipal council during the 2019-2023 term have returned money to the municipal budget after prosecutors began examining council members’ expenses, LRT reported Tuesday, citing the news outlet 15min.

The councillors repaid more than 224,000 euros in total, Gintarė Vitkauskaitė-Šatkauskienė, a spokeswoman for the Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office, said. Some returned all the funds they had received during their term.

Some politicians said they decided to repay the money after legal proceedings began. Artūras Želnys said he did so “for peace of mind”.

Last week, 15min reported that Vilnius district Mayor Robertas Duchnevičius had also repaid 9,500 euros to the municipal budget under similar circumstances. Prosecutors have conducted both proceedings to defend the public interest and pre-trial investigations into council members’ expense claims in the district.