Dankora, led by Paluckas’s brother, files for bankruptcy

Dankora, a company headed by Danas Paluckas, the brother of former Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, is filing for bankruptcy, LRT reported, citing the Klaipėdos diena news portal.

The company is mentioned in a pre-trial investigation into allegedly unlawfully obtained European Union funding.

In July, bankruptcy proceedings were also opened against Auksitas, a demolition and construction company owned by Danas Paluckas. Paluckas himself applied to the Klaipėda Regional Court to open the case, stating in court documents that Dankora was insolvent.

Paluckas said Dankora had been established to develop electric vehicle and boat charging infrastructure in Klaipėda District. The company’s main activity was the development and implementation of a project funded by the National Paying Agency.

The company bought two plots of land for the project, and said work had begun on developing the battery-charging project.

According to documents submitted to the court, the investigation into the company’s manager and the subsequent decision by the National Paying Agency to stop funding directly caused Dankora’s insolvency.

Paluckas said the agency had announced that it would no longer provide funding and would carry out additional checks before any conviction had been issued or the case had been referred to court. He said the company could no longer continue its commercial activities after the funding was withdrawn.

Dankora’s assets are valued at about 9,000 euros, while its total liabilities amount to approximately 228,500 euros, according to the documents.

In June, the investigative journalism centre Siena reported that Virginija Paluckienė’s company Dankora had failed to return more than 136,000 euros in EU funding allocated for an uncompleted project. The National Paying Agency subsequently referred the matter to law enforcement.

The company had received 170,000 euros to install electric vehicle and electric boat charging infrastructure in the coastal region, in the village of Drukiai. It failed to complete the project by the deadline in July last year.

Earlier reports said that most of the funds may have been spent on equipment purchased from Garnis, a company partly controlled by Gintautas Paluckas.

According to ELTA, Danas Paluckas was detained last summer as the Financial Crime Investigation Service investigated Garnis’s activities. The investigation concerns possible credit fraud linked to a preferential loan of 200,000 euros obtained by Garnis.

It also concerns possible credit fraud and document forgery in the alleged fraudulent acquisition of more than 136,000 euros in EU funding by Dankora, as well as possible bribery and corruption. Authorities suspect the alleged offences may have been committed by an organised group.

Earlier reports said that Dankora director Kostas Mikalajūnas was detained last August as part of the investigation. Officers carried out dozens of searches and other procedural actions at the project site, the company’s registered address, the homes and vehicles of its director and shareholders, and other locations relevant to the investigation.

Documents and other items needed for the investigation were seized. The service said searches were also conducted at other potentially related companies, with media reports saying that Auksitas was among them.