Lithuanian PM Denies Influence in State Loan to His Company, Will Not Step Down

Lithuanian PM denies influence in state loan to his company, will not step down

Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas on Thursday denied influencing the state development bank ILTE over a loan granted to a company in which he holds shares and said he had asked the Chief Official Ethics Commission (VTEK) for a ruling on whether there was a conflict of interest.

After the Siena Center for Investigative Journalism and Laisvės TV announced that while Gintautas Paluckas was already serving as Prime Minister, Garnis, a battery system planning and manufacturing company partly owned by him, received a 200,000 euro soft loan from the national development bank ILTE, the leader of the opposition Liberal Movement, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, said she was waiting for President Gitanas Nausėda's reaction.

Lithuania would like to borrow up to €7 billion from the €150 billion European Union (EU) defense fund, says Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas.