Skaisgirytė says authorities likely had grounds for party raids

Presidential chief adviser Asta Skaisgirytė told LRT that investigators probably had sufficient grounds to search the homes of five members of the Nemuno aušra political party.

“It is very difficult to assess the situation when we have only just learned about these events. We believe that if the Special Investigation Service is carrying out these searches, it probably has sufficient grounds to do so,” Skaisgirytė told Žinių radijas on Tuesday.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said the searches were conducted as part of a pretrial investigation into the circumstances surrounding car rentals to Nemuno aušra. The homes of MPs Robertas Puchovičius, Kęstutis Bilius, Daiva Žebelienė, Lina Šukytė-Korsakė and Tadas Sadauskis were searched.

The searches were carried out by officers from the Financial Crimes Investigation Service. Party leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis confirmed to LRT radio that the actions were linked to the investigation into car rentals to Nemuno aušra.

In May, the Financial Crimes Investigation Service searched the workplaces of Žemaitaitis and MP Daiva Petkevičienė, as well as the party’s headquarters. That investigation examined whether Žemaitaitis and Petkevičienė had committed a criminal offence by renting their cars to Nemuno aušra while continuing to use them themselves. The investigation concerns possible fraud.