The former politician has restated that the bribe he is charged with taking from MG Baltic concern’s former vice-president Raimondas Kurlianskis was merely a loan for investing in real estate, adding he had paid the loan back.
“I was convinced (…) that everything would be established fairly and that I would be notified that the suspicions against me had been dropped, although I understand that the decision takes courage. Unfortunately, I was very wrong, today I face charges,” Masiulis told a news conference on Wednesday.
In his words, studying the case materials revealed the facts “that prosecutors attempted to scandalously conceal and continue to ignore the best they can.”
Law-enforcement officers found a loan agreement concluded with Kurlianskis in his car on May 10 2016 and filmed it, said Masiulis, adding that the document was not seized 30 minutes later and excluded from the case.
“The scandalous conduct by prosecutors astonishes me and shows one fact – things that do not come in handy to prosecutors and that destroy charges (…) are deliberately ignored,” he added.
The former politician said that the 90,000 euros seized from his car were a loan from Kurlianskis, “probably the most stupid act in life.” Masiulis, however, rejected the charges of political corruption.
“Political corruption should have a clear logic – there is some payment for something. I clearly state that I did not see the logic in the materials that I read,” he stated.
Earlier on Wednesday, Vilnius prosecutors handed to court a case of political corruption where Masiulis is charged with taking a bribe of 106,000 euros from Kurlianskis for parliamentary decisions in favor of the concern.