Court suspends NMA deputy chief in financial crime probe

A court has allowed the deputy head of Lithuania’s National Paying Agency, Tomas Orlickas, to be suspended from his duties for three months in a pretrial investigation, LRT and ELTA report. Orlickas is a suspect in the case and has been placed under a combination of restrictive measures, the Financial Crime Investigation Service said.

Several other National Paying Agency employees have also been given suspect status.

The agency’s director, Fortunatas Dirginčius, has witness status at this stage of the investigation, the service said.

“More information about the ongoing pretrial investigation will be provided when this can be done without harming the success of the investigation,” the Financial Crime Investigation Service said.

Investigators conducted searches at the National Paying Agency this week and visited the agency director’s office on Thursday.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said the situation showed that the problems at the agency were serious and that he would await the findings of law enforcement authorities.

The National Paying Agency said in July that Orlickas had immediately been removed from duties linked to a suspected conflict of interest. The agency launched an internal investigation on August 5 into possible conflicts between public and private interests in the implementation of international projects.

The pretrial investigation is being conducted by the Financial Crime Investigation Service and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. It examines allegations that civil servants deliberately failed to perform their duties and may have caused significant material and non-material damage to Lithuania’s and the European Union’s financial interests.