„It shouldn’t,” the Prime Minister said in an interview with LNK News on Thursday, when asked if the Migration Department would “emerge completely dry from this scandal.”
Read more What to do and what to avoid before a blood test: this can fundamentally change the results
„We have discussed this with the Minister (of Interior – BNS). The Minister is currently conducting his internal investigations and, as far as I know, has publicly expressed a very clear opinion that responsibility should indeed be seen not only in the Migration Department but also in the supervising institution,” she said.
Opposition parliamentary factions began collecting signatures on Thursday to form a temporary parliamentary investigation commission to investigate the data theft from the Centre of Registers.
According to opposition politicians, if the temporary commission did not receive a mandate, an interpellation of the responsible ministers would be considered.
I. Ruginienė states that the opposition is doing its job, but before anyone takes political responsibility, the results of the investigations must be awaited.
„An investigation is underway, and that investigation will certainly answer all questions, and if we see that someone deliberately failed to take certain actions that they should have taken, then, of course, they must bear responsibility,” the politician assured.
„The opposition is doing its job. We can pass the hot potato from hand to hand, but it is important to plan the actions we need to take, how we need to protect not only our residents’ data but also ensure their security,” she said.
Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė, speaking in the Seimas on Tuesday, stated that the prosecutor’s office had allowed the public to be informed about the data theft from the Centre of Registers as early as the beginning of May.
Read more Prime Minister: No panic or concern over US troops in Lithuania
According to her, the company itself approached the prosecutors regarding this possibility. However, information about the incident reached the public only at the end of the month.
The head of government says she was unaware of such permission.
„These circumstances were certainly not known to me. They became known only when I myself saw more revealed circumstances during the investigation, and I truly cannot evaluate why. But I can unequivocally say that this only proves once again that dismissing the head of the Centre of Registers was the right decision,” said I. Ruginienė.
The Prime Minister had previously stated that, according to her, the Centre of Registers should have reported the data leak under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
As BNS wrote, the Prosecutor General’s Office is investigating possible illegal logins and the misappropriation of more than 600,000 real estate registry entries, including people’s personal identification numbers.
According to law enforcement, the logins were carried out using accounts of Migration Department employees that were misappropriated from abroad.
The first illegal logins and data leaks date back to the beginning of this year; the Centre of Registers became aware of this in early April, and the public was informed at the end of May.
Read more Minister: damage caused by wild animals must be compensated by hunters, not farmers
