The news release comes as a pre-trial investigation in a political corruption case involving MG Baltic, one of Lithuania’s biggest business groups, and several political parties is drawing to a close.
Law-enforcement officials say they have established that the Liberals’ 2016 election campaign was partially financed from funds of Laisvės Studijų Centras (Centre for Liberty Studies), a think-tank whose founders include the Liberal Movement’s former leader Eligijus Masiulis and his deputy Gintaras Steponavičius, but give no details.
Officials earlier this year provided the Central Electoral Commission with some information amid suspicions that the Liberal Movement’s campaign might have been funded through a training course organized for the party’s members by Taikomosios Politikos Institutas (Institute of Applied Politics). The election watchdog subsequently deprived the party of a six-month state grant of almost 400,000 euros for grossly violating the funding rules.
Formal suspicions have been brought against Masiulis, Steponavičius and Šarūnas Gustainis, a former member of the Liberal Movement and the founder of Taikomosios Politikos Institutas, in the political corruption case.