Ethics commission declines to investigate possible Valys conflict

Lithuania’s Chief Official Ethics Commission has decided not to investigate a possible conflict of interest involving Finance Minister Taurimas Valys, LRT reported on Wednesday.

The commission received a request from conservative lawmaker Mindaugas Lingė to assess whether Valys had properly declared his private interests and should have recused himself from decisions related to credit unions.

The request concerns Valys’s former work at Šeimos Credit Union, whose board chairman and head of administration is his brother, Žygimantas Valys. Lingė also asked whether Valys’s role in exercising the state’s shareholder rights in national development bank ILTE could create a conflict, since Šeimos Credit Union is an ILTE financial intermediary and receives promotional measures.

In late October, the commission sought additional information from the Finance Ministry, ILTE and the credit union.

Valys denies any conflict. He says his links to the credit union have been publicly declared and that he fully withdrew from its activities after becoming finance minister. He has also said the credit union led by his brother received no special privileges from the ministry and that he made no decisions intended to improve its position.