Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service (FCIS) has detained Danas Paluckas, the brother of former Lithuanian Social Democratic Party leader Gintautas Paluckas, in Palanga, LNK News reported on Wednesday.
Neither the FCIS nor the European-delegated prosecutors in charge of the ongoing pre-trial investigation have commented on the detention.
Danas Paluckas’ wife, Virginija Paluckienė, who serves as director of the Palanga Resort Museum, owns Dankora – a company that in February this year launched a tender for battery systems with two inverters. The tender was won by the sole bidder, Garnis, a company 49 percent owned by Gintautas Paluckas.
As BNS reported earlier, Dankora CEO Kostas Mikalajūnas was detained in early August as part of a pre-trial investigation into credit fraud. The FCIS at the time said the company was suspected of fraudulently obtaining more than EUR 136,000 in European Union financial support.
Initially, Mikalajūnas owned Dankora, but later sold his shares to Virginija Paluckienė. He stated at the time that all procurement procedures had been public and transparent, and that Gintautas Paluckas “is not involved in any way” in the company’s operations.
Nevertheless, Dankora later announced it would return the EU funding, saying that “the peace of mind of the families and loved ones is more important to the company’s director and shareholders than money.” It added that the project would continue with the company’s own funds.
The investigation also covers suspected fraud involving a EUR 200,000 soft loan from the national development bank INVEGA to Garnis. The funds may have been used in the operations of Emus, another company co-owned by Gintautas Paluckas.
Law enforcement authorities have described the pre-trial investigation as “very active” and said that the number of arrests and suspects may increase.
Facing mounting questions about his past and business ties, Gintautas Paluckas resigned in early August as leader of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party.
Source: BNS
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