Matulionis sues Finance Ministry over stalled Customs appointment
Monday 26th October 2026 on 10:30 in
Lithuania
Mantas Matulionis, who won a second competition to lead Lithuania’s Customs Department in July but has not been appointed, is taking legal action against the Finance Ministry, LRT reports. The Special Investigation Service (STT) is also examining the circumstances surrounding the selection.
According to the news outlet 15min, Matulionis challenged the results of the first competition, which had gone against him. He was named the winner of the second competition on July 13, after an undisclosed meeting with then-Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė.
Ruginienė’s sister worked on her close-protection team. The former prime minister denied influencing the selection or discussing it with her security officer, but said she knew Matulionis was the officer’s brother. Then-Finance Minister Kristupas Vaitiekūnas confirmed to 15min that the meeting took place, saying it concerned only Matulionis’s complaint about the first competition.
The Finance Ministry told 15min it would not confirm the appointment until the STT had issued its findings. The agency confirmed that it had received a report alleging possible abuse in the competition process and began clarifying the circumstances on October 14.
Leokadija Daujotaitė, head of the Customs Employees’ Trade Union, told 15min that the head of the second competition’s panel, then-Finance Vice-Minister Lukas Jakubonis, may also have been summoned to the government. His vote may have determined Matulionis’s victory, she said. Ruginienė denied meeting Jakubonis.
The first competition was halted in March after Žaneta Rudaitienė, now a deputy head of the department, was selected. The ministry announced another competition in April, but it was halted after a complaint about procedural violations, which 15min reported was filed by Matulionis. Rudaitienė was not appointed after procedures for forming the selection panel were found to have been breached.
Former Customs Department director Darius Žvironas left the post at his own request in August last year, after being detained while intoxicated the previous July. Deputy director Vygantas Paigozinas is currently acting head of the department.