„By leaving politics, Monika distanced herself from the party to the extent that she was involved in the scandal. The prosecutor's office has made it quite clear that it does not see any further situations related to her. It seems to me that the political price has been paid,“ the TS-LKD Chairman told reporters at the Seimas on Monday.
„Generally, we trust law enforcement; we rely on their decisions, and they do their job. So far, what we have seen is professionally conducted investigation. They have to keep doing their job, and that's it,“ Landsbergis said.
He also assured that he had not contacted Ms Navickienė after last week's arrests by law enforcement.
ELTA recalls that during the pre-trial investigation of the financial technology company Foxpay by the law enforcement authorities, a total of 7 persons were detained and charged with suspicion, including the owner of the company Ieva Trinkūnaitė, her partner Vilhelmas Germanas and the formers minister's husband Mindaugas Navickas.
The authorities reveal that 32 searches were conducted, during which significant amounts of cash, technical and electronic information, cryptocurrencies and property, and artwork were found. The searches reportedly led to the discovery of EUR 0.5 million in cash.
According to the Financial Crimes Investigation Service (FNTT), an investigation has been opened into possible money laundering, abuse, fraud, embezzlement and bribery. It has now been established that a group of accomplices may have laundered at least EUR 17 million between 2023 and 2024.
Bribes may also have been paid to conceal activities from the authorities. The number of possible bribes is currently estimated at over EUR 100,000.
According to the Head of the Special Tasks Department of the FNTT, Robertas Šadianeco, there may be more than 7 suspects in the future. However, the authorities stress that Navickienė herself is not a suspect in the case, and there is no reason to question her „at least for now“.
According to Jovitas Raškevičius, Deputy Director of the Special Investigation Service (STT), the pre-trial investigation launched in June focuses on possible influence peddling and money laundering in connection with Foxpay's services to the public sector.
According to Artūras Urbelis, Chief Prosecutor of the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office, in September, it was decided to merge the various pre-trial investigations previously launched into one single investigation, which focuses on Foxpay's activities.
The STT's investigation was launched as part of the Bank of Lithuania's audit of Foxpay's activities. The LB is also monitoring public services provided by Foxpay through the payment system Centrolink, which has not complied with the Central Bank's instructions.
Foxpay came to the attention of the government's Coordination Commission for the Protection of Objects of National Security Importance when it prevented the owner of Foxpay, Trinkūnaitė, from acquiring LITLAB, a company in which the main shareholder is Navickas, the spouse of Navickienė.
Ms Navickienė has stated that Ms Trinkūnaitė is a distant relative of hers – the sister of her husband's brother's wife. Later, 15min.lt reported that last year, the minister and Trinkūnaitė and her partner Germanas flew to Dubai in a private plane. As a result of the scandal that broke out over her relations with Trinkūnaitė and Germanas, Navickienė resigned from her post as minister.
