Leaders of Liberal Movement tend to preserve party – Gentvilas

“The dominant understanding today was that the party stands accusations, the party has to withstand it,” Gentvilas told journalists after a three-hour meeting on Thursday evening.

In his words, other types of behavior could be viewed as an attempt to avoid responsibility.

Nevertheless, the party’s board decided not to vote on the position and propose both possible scenarios to the council, i.e., preservation of the current party and establishment of a new organization.

Consisting of over 20 members, the board held a closed meeting just a few hours after the Central Electoral Commission decided to refuse the party a grant of nearly 400,000 euros amid gross violations of election laws.

Last week, the election watchdog decided that the Liberal Movement violated the law before the 2016 parliamentary elections by accepting a non-monetary donation from a legal entity – Institute of Applied Politics established by the party’s former member Šarūnas Gustainis. Donations from legal entities are banned by law.

Lithuanian prosecutors in September brought suspicions against the Liberal Movement in a case of political corruption. The Special Investigation Service said the party had benefited form illicit operations of its then leader Eligijus Masiulis and Gustainis.

The Liberal Movement has a 14-member group in the Lithuanian parliament.