Also, by the decision of the prosecutor’s office, two pre-trial investigations against members of the Palanga City Municipality Council, Dainius Želvys and Saulius Simė, were terminated, and a decision was made to exempt Rita Grigalienė, a member of the Tauragė District Municipality Council, from criminal liability under a guarantee.
The pre-trial investigation against G. Jankauskienė, a member of the Pagėgiai Municipality Council, was terminated after she reconciled with a representative of the Pagėgiai Municipality Administration and compensated for the damage. The politician was suspected of embezzlement, abuse of office, and forgery or handling of documents. According to the pre-trial investigation, G. Jankauskienė submitted false advance reports on council member allowances for mobile equipment, mobile communication, and fuel expenses, causing the municipality a loss of 700 euros.
The Klaipėda District Prosecutor’s Office terminated pre-trial investigations against Palanga City Municipality Council member D. Želvys and former council member S. Simė for fraud, abuse, forgery, and handling of documents.
According to the pre-trial investigation, D. Želvys was suspected of possibly abusing his official position from 2019 to 2023 and submitting false expense reports related to fuel costs associated with council member activities, potentially causing the Palanga City Municipality Administration a loss of just over 1,400 euros.
According to case data, S. Simė, while serving as a member of the Palanga City Municipality Council from 2019 to 2021, allegedly abused his official position and submitted council member allowance reports containing possibly false information about fuel expenses incurred. In this way, S. Simė potentially caused the Palanga City Municipality Administration a loss of more than 500 euros.
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Considering the entirety of the data collected during the investigations, the prosecutor concluded that there was insufficient evidence to justify the suspects’ guilt for the alleged criminal acts. In another case, the Klaipėda District Court confirmed the prosecutor’s decision to exempt Rita Grigalienė, a member of the Tauragė District Municipality Council, from criminal liability under a guarantee for abuse, embezzlement, forgery, or handling of documents.
According to the investigation, from 2019 to 2022, she submitted false reports on council member activity expenses related to fuel costs and thus allegedly fraudulently obtained more than 3,200 euros. The politician fully admitted guilt, sincerely regretted, and compensated for the damage caused. The court set a one-year guarantee period for her and imposed a criminal sanction – a 2,600 euro payment to the Victims of Crime Fund.
The pre-trial investigations were conducted by officers of the Special Investigation Service (STT) of the Republic of Lithuania, with prosecutors from the Organized Crime and Corruption Investigation Division of the Klaipėda District Prosecutor’s Office leading the investigations.
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