A government commission in Lithuania will not investigate whether Skyllence – a company owned by businessman Gediminas Ziemelis’ aviation group Avia Solutions Group, which organized the evacuation of Lithuanian nationals from Israel earlier this year – poses a threat to national security.

In late July, Presidential National Security Advisor Kęstutis Budrys asked the Commission for the Coordination of the Protection of Objects Critical to National Security to carry out such an inquiry.

The commission reviewed the request and concluded that there were no legal or factual grounds to launch an investigation, the government’s Communications Department told BNS.

As BNS reported earlier, a group of Lithuanians was transported by bus from Israel to Jordan before boarding a flight home. Marius Laurinavičius, a political commentator who was among the passengers, was ordered to disembark before departure.

The exact reasons for the incident remain unclear.

The flight was organized by Chapman Freeborn, a charter company that is part of Avia Solutions Group.

Vilma Vaitiekūnaitė, CEO of Skyllence, which handles private flights at Vilnius Airport, initially told BNS that Laurinavičius was removed due to issues with data provided by the operator.

Ziemelis later wrote on Facebook that the incident was linked to an alleged threat by Laurinavičius to blow up the plane – a version later repeated by Vaitiekūnaitė.

Laurinavičius has denied the accusation, saying he was removed because of his criticism of Ziemelis.

The Defense Ministry ultimately arranged his return to Lithuania on a Spartan military aircraft.

Several years ago, the State Security Department confirmed that it had intelligence raising doubts about the activities and reliability of Avia Solutions Group.

Source: BNS

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