Electoral commission finds party seriously breached law over car rental

Lithuania’s Central Electoral Commission found the Lithuanian Regions Party had seriously breached the law by using state funds for a car rental and fuel without adequate supporting documents, LRT reported.

The commission voted unanimously on Thursday to find that the party had breached the Financial Accounting Law by spending more than 34,000 euros from the state budget on transactions related to car rental in July 2021 and during 2025 and 2026 without providing documents to support the expenses. It also found a serious breach of the Law on Political Organisations because the funds were not used for their intended purpose.

The party paid more than 76,000 euros to rent a BMW X5 from party member Vytautas Kamblevičius, without justifying how the rental price was calculated. The commission said the rate was higher than the market price. The party acknowledged that Kamblevičius alone used the car and received compensation for its fuel costs.

The commission also found that the party paid nearly 11,000 euros for fuel. Although the BMW runs on diesel, records from the Viada fuel station network showed payments for different types of fuel between 2021 and 2024. The commission said Kamblevičius had used state funds to refuel his own petrol-powered Hyundai Santa Fe.

The Hyundai was not rented to the party, and there were no decisions, contracts or other documents authorising its use, the commission said. Kamblevičius said it served as a replacement car while the BMW was being repaired.

The commission recommended recovering nearly 87,000 euros in total, including payments to Kamblevičius and fuel costs. It also proposed requiring the party’s chair to ensure that documents supporting future vehicle rental arrangements are provided.

The commission received information about the possible misuse of state funds from the State Tax Inspectorate earlier this year, as well as complaints from members of the public. The complaints alleged that Kamblevičius used the car for personal purposes, including visiting relatives.

Kamblevičius told the commission that the party leadership had proposed renting his BMW and that he had not kept records of its use because the party had not asked him to do so. The commission’s investigation found that the rental agreement was extended under the party’s current chair, Giedrė Pavasarytė.

During Thursday’s meeting, the party’s lawyer, Erikas Čerškus, called for the matter to be postponed, arguing that the State Tax Inspectorate was conducting its own investigation and that a decision by the commission would be premature. He said the inspectorate was the competent body to assess the legal relationship between the party and Kamblevičius.