Ethics commission to decide on probes into Matjošaitytė and Paluckė hiring

Lithuania’s Chief Official Ethics Commission will decide on Wednesday whether to open investigations into possible ties between election commission member Laura Matjošaitytė and tax inspectorate head Martynas Endrijaitis, and the hiring of former prime minister Gintautas Paluckas’s wife, Ilma, at a clinic, LRT reported, citing BNS.

“The commission will decide on further steps. After collecting additional documents, it usually considers whether to open an investigation,” Virginija Aleksejūnė, deputy head of the commission, told BNS.

In early October, the commission decided to gather more information about possible links between Matjošaitytė, a member of both the Central Electoral Commission and the LRT Council, and Endrijaitis. Public figure Karolis Žukauskas had provided information suggesting they might be a couple and live together. If such a relationship exists, it is not listed in their declarations of public and private interests. Endrijaitis has denied having close ties to Matjošaitytė.

Žukauskas also raised the possibility of a conflict of interest, citing Matjošaitytė’s work at the electoral commission and her proposal to seek additional information from the State Tax Inspectorate while examining the financing of the Nemuno Aušra party.

The commission opened a separate investigation into Matjošaitytė in September to determine whether consultations she provided to Nemuno Aušra violated the Law on the Coordination of Public and Private Interests. Last week, the Lithuanian Bar Council found that she had substantially violated the Law on the Bar by providing the consultations in August 2024 without a written contract, but declined to start disciplinary proceedings because the limitation period had expired.

The commission began examining Ilma Paluckė’s employment after media reports and a notification from a member of parliament in the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats parliamentary group. Delfi reported that she has worked as an internal communications coordinator at Vilnius District Polyclinic since August 17. The clinic is headed by Evaldas Navickas, a Social Democrat and former adviser to Gintautas Paluckas.

Gintautas Paluckas said he had not asked Navickas to hire his wife. After the news of her employment emerged, he updated his declaration of public and private interests to include her workplace.