“I have been swamped with an avalanche of lies”, said the resigning minister, Dainius Kreivys, at a press conference today.
“I am not indifferent to what Lithuania will look like to our children and grandchildren after 20 or more years”, he concluded.

After a few months of investigation, Lithuania’s Chief Official Ethics Commission today stated that the Minister of Economy, Dainius Kreivys, confused public and private interests while making favorable decisions to support a company in which the co-owner is his own mother. During a press conference held at the Ministry of Economy, Kreivys read resignation statement and briefly commented that he was surprised and disagrees with the findings of the Ethics Commission. The minister affirmed that he intends to appeal the commission’s decision to court. “I have been swamped with an avalanche of lies”, said the Minister of Economy. “I am not indifferent to what Lithuania will look like to our children and grandchildren after 20 or more years”, said Kreivys.

During the latter months the controversial story of Minister of Economy of Lithuania Dainius Kreivys presented more and more questions to discuss. Why is Prime Minister Kubilius defending his minister? What was written in that mysterious note? Is Kreivys to disclose some large scale corruption case? Or, according to weekly newsmagazine Veidas, is he just a scapegoat?

The scandal began in January when media spread the message throughout the country claiming that possessions of the Minister of Economy Dainius Kreivys suddenly increased up to 170 million LTU. Yet, turns out it was just a media canard as no real evidence was found. Then a Chief Official Ethics Commission started the investigation on request of the opposition leader of Seimas Algirdas Butkevičius. In the report D. Kreivys was alleged of confusing public and private interests while participating in making decisions related to the companies whose main shareholder is minister’s mother. The Minister of Economy however refused all the accusations.

Subsequently, Linas Balsys, the spokesperson of the president stated that Kreivys should resign as he politically discredited himself and affects the relations between the president and the government. The president of Lithuania herself confirmed that she distrusts the Minister of Economy. However, the Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius disagreed with the presidential position. After a few days PM Andrius Kubilius had received a confidential note from the Minister of Economy Dainius Kreivys and later on stated that some of the facts shocked him, while the president was rather skeptical about the note and transmitted it to Special Investigation Service. The note was published publicly shortly after the municipal elections. From that time the scandalous story began to grow into a whole new dimension. The whole text is here http://www.alfa.lt/straipsnis/10685182/?Skelbiame.garsiaja.ukio.ministro.Kreivio.pazyma=2011-03-03_12-39 From this note is clear that the Minister of Economy sustained pressure and was offered bribes numerous times. Among all, it also states that Social Democrats urged Kreivys not to check the public procurements related to Vilniaus Vandenys Company and Ignalina nuclear power plant, about objectives of public institutions of Vladimir Romanov to obtain support for Sports Palace renovation and about seeks of “Panevėžio statybos trestas” to change the findings of Public Procurement Office related to the renovation of Royal Palace in Vilnius. Linas Balsys, the spokesperson of the president after all stated that the president is aware of all the names written in that note. However, the opposition leader and the chairman of LSDP (Social Democratic Party of Lithuania), Algirdas Butkevičius commented that disclosed information is a slander and that he considers a possibility to sue Kreivys. Moreover, the opposition already prepared two interpellation projects on PM Andrius Kubilius and Government’s performance which would be considered in Seimas during spring session.

During his resignation speech Dainius Kreivys thanked Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius for the opportunity to work in his team which, according to him, took fatal decisions to improve economy of Lithuania during highly difficult times of economic crisis.
What was left behind the curtains of Lithuanian political scene? The controversial story of minister Dainius Kreivys still leaves more questions than answers.

Editorial team for this story: Diana Koval/Aage Myhre

Sources: ukmin.lt, BNS, Lietuvos Rytas, Veidas, delfi.lt, alfa.lt