Social Democrats’ absence blocks inquiry into manor hiring claims

Lithuania’s parliament Anti-Corruption Commission could not decide whether to investigate the employment of Social Democratic Party members and Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’ wife at Raudondvaris Manor estate, LRT reported on Wednesday.

Only five of the commission’s 12 members attended the meeting, including no Social Democrats, so there was no quorum for a vote. The commission decided to collect more material before its next meeting, which chair Arvydas Anušauskas proposed holding on September 2.

Anušauskas said the published investigation had raised questions about the employment of people connected through family, political and other ties, as well as possible conflicts of interest, nepotism risks and the objectivity of decision-making.

Conservative MP Jurgis Razma said he believed that representatives of the ruling parties, except Agnė Širinskienė, had deliberately failed to attend. He described the situation as a political action and said the case was worth investigating.

The commission includes Social Democrats Ramūnas Vyžintas, Ilona Gelažnikienė, Roma Janušonienė and Lilija Vaitiekūnienė. Mixed parliamentary group representatives Ignas Vėgėlė and Artūras Zuokas also sit on the commission. Zuokas had informed the commission in advance that he would be unable to attend, as had Vaitiekūnienė. Raimundas Šukys, a representative of the Nemunas Dawn party, was also absent.

The proposed investigation followed an LRT Investigations Department report published last week. It said Raudondvaris Manor had become a workplace for people linked to the Social Democratic Party, including Sinkevičius’ wife, Aistė Sinkevičienė, who receives a second salary there.

The report also said that Aurelija, the wife of Social Democratic Kaunas district mayor Valerijus Makūnas, had worked at the institution until several months ago. The manor also employs the mayor’s adviser Loreta Navakauskienė and her spouse, as well as Jūratė Kuzmickaitė, an adviser to Education, Science and Sports Minister Raminta Popovienė in parliament, and the son of the manor’s long-serving director, Snieguolė Navickienė.

Most of Raudondvaris Manor’s funding comes from the Kaunas district municipality.

Sinkevičienė has said she was hired according to the applicable procedure and that information published in the media was inaccurate. The prime minister has also said that some claims about his wife’s employment were untrue or distorted.

President Gitanas Nausėda said Sinkevičienė had the right to pursue a professional career and that her suitability for the job should be assessed based on her work rather than her marriage to the prime minister.