Police in Lithuania announced on Friday that it had launched a pre-trial investigation into the forgery of plane tickets by an anonymous person who sent them to Remigijus Zemaitaitis, leader of the Dawn of Nemunas political party, which is currently part of Lithuania’s governing coalition. The allegation is that he wanted to take a trip to New York, and Zemaitaitis believed that he was invited to visit the city by the anonymous person.
“A pre-trial investigation was opened under Article 224 of the Criminal Code, which speaks to the forgery of airline tickets,” BNS was told by a spokeswoman for the Vilnius County Police, Julija Samorokovskaja.
Earlier on Friday, Lithuania’s Special Investigation Service (SIS) said that it had launched a pre-trial investigation in Zemaitaitis’ planned trip to the United States to meet with Elon Musk, who is considered to be the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The SIS has started a preliminary review of the situation in early March.
The anti-corruption agency told BNS on Friday that it had launched the investigation given “the significant public attention to this matter, the importance of Zemaitaitis’ activities as a Lithuanian politician, the preliminary indications of a criminal offence, and the fact that a full and comprehensive assessment of the information and data that are currently available to the SIS cannot be conducted without a pre-trial investigation.”
The probe is focused on the possible abuse of office for financial and other personal gain that is potentially linked to one’s political career.
In early March Zemaitaitis revealed that a prankster had tricked him by posing as a staff member of DOGE.
According to the Dawn of Nemunas leader, he realised this when he and his wife arrived at the airport. There they were told that the plane tickets which they believed had been arranged for them were fake.
In E-mail with the prankster, Zemaitaitis agreed to the details of the trip, which was to be financed by DOGE. The plan was to travel with his wife, stay at a five-star hotel, meet with Musk, and attend the musical “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway.
In the E-mails, Zemaitaitis also criticised Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda for his supposed criticisms of US President Donald Trump.
The E-mails were first published by Laisves TV and later also obtained by BNS.
Source: BNS
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