Seimas panel completes unlawful influence probe, wants materials declassified

Vytautas Bakas
DELFI / Domantas Pipas

“The committee has completed the investigation and has drafted preliminary findings, which are classified,” NSGK Chairman Vytautas Bakas told BNS after the panel’s meeting on Friday.

“We decided at the committee that the findings should be made public, accessible to the public, but this requires declassifying the information,” he said.

NSGK on Friday asked the State Security Department and the Special Investigation Service to declassify the materials.

The Seimas last October authorized the committee to conduct a parliamentary investigation into possible unlawful influence by individuals, business entities and other interest groups on public authorities’ decision-making and on political processes.

Bakas himself initiated the investigation based on an earlier probe into alleged ties of Mindaugas Bastys, a former Social Democratic MP, to people working for the benefit of Russia.

The parliament failed to garner enough votes to strip Bastys of his mandate despite the Constitutional Court‘s ruling that the lawmaker had grossly violated the Constitution and breached the oath by concealing his ties to a former KGB agent.

Bastys, who denied any wrongdoing, quit as a member of the Seimas amid a public uproar.

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