He dismissed the prosecutor’s complaint, in which the former director of the Biržai district municipality administration Vidas Eidukas was accused of abuse of office and bribery, former mayor Vytas Jareckas – bribery, council member Ritas Vaiginas – bribery, deputy elder Edis Trapikas and former member of the Seimas Viktoras Rinkevičius – complicity in abuse of office.
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The LAT panel of judges found that the appellate court correctly determined that in the actions of the former director of the Biržai district municipality administration V. Eidukas, revealing to E. Trapikas what question might be asked during the competition for the positions of Parovėja elder and deputy elder, there are no signs of abuse of office – significant non-material damage.
This conclusion was based on the fact that V. Eidukas’s actions were one-time, aimed only at one person – E. Trapikas, who was also favorably evaluated by other members of the commission.
The court noted that there is no evidence in the case that V. Eidukas tried to influence the evaluation of other commission members.
In the competition for the elder position, among other candidates, E. Trapikas took only third place, and after being appointed deputy elder, his performance is evaluated very well.
According to LAT, since no signs of abuse were found in V. Eidukas’s actions, no joint action in committing a criminal offense was established, therefore V. Rinkevičius and E. Trapikas were also justifiably acquitted of abuse of office.
In the same case, former mayor of Biržai district municipality V. Jareckas was acquitted, accused of bribery acting in complicity with the then director of the Biržai district municipality administration V. Eidukas.
The prosecution accused them of agreeing in 2021 with then Biržai district municipality council member R. Vaiginas for favorable voting for their coalition during the council meeting. R. Vaiginas allegedly sought the dismissal of the director of a public institution established by the municipality and the appointment of his party colleague to this position in exchange for favorable voting.
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The panel of judges noted that the Criminal Code does not provide a concept of a non-material form of bribe without economic value, possible manifestations of it, nor criteria for the illegality and groundlessness of such a form of reward.
“The legal abstractness and vagueness of such a concept obliges courts to carefully evaluate all circumstances of the case and, as far as possible, the true will of the legislator in criminalizing such actions and applying criminal liability as an extreme measure in each specific case,” the LAT statement said.
It noted that the case did not establish who specifically and what personal benefit was to be received and was received from the non-material form of bribe.
The panel of judges emphasized that when accusing a person of accepting a bribe for the benefit of another person, such benefit must also be proven, not presumed.
“In this case, the benefit to the coalition incriminated to the acquitted and mentioned in the cassation complaint is considered too general and vague benefit, which is not supported by the evidence of the case, and the arguments presented in the prosecutor’s cassation complaint are not sufficient to recognize the promise to vote for the benefit of the coalition as a bribe. Therefore, the panel of judges agreed with the lower courts’ conclusion that the subject of the bribe was not established in the case,” LAT stated.
Meanwhile, in June 2024, the Panevėžys district court found former member of the Seimas V. Rinkevičius, former director of the Biržai district municipality administration V. Eidukas, and deputy elder of Parovėja elderate E. Trapikas guilty of corruption-related crimes – they were collectively fined a total of 60 thousand euros.
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