Lietuva in brief - 2004-08-12

Aug 12, 2004

The Foreign Ministry has proposed revising the law regulating the status of foreign diplomats as some provisions of the law have been contradicting the constitution for 12 years but were only noticed recently. The new amendment would enshrine the accreditation of foreign diplomats by the president and not the chairman of Parliament, as ws previously.

To better mark the Lithuanian and Russian border, over 300 buoys were set in Lake Vistytis that runs along the southeastern border of the Kaliningrad exclave. The markings were the first executive actions after ractifying the Lithuanian - Russian border agreement that came into action last year. The buoys are meant to improve orientation for people traveling by boat and to prevent accidental borderline crossings.

Due to presidential and parliamentary scandals, when everyone had a chance to read the transcripts of politicians' private conversations, Parliament has decided to restrict disclosure of operative investigation material including telephone conversations. According to present law, telephone conversation transcripts may be published only after the investigation reaches the court.

Following German initiatives to receive compensations for lost property in Poland, Polish families with the origins in Vilnius have decided to demand similar compensations from the Lithuanian government in order to cover lost property in the Vilnius area. A group of 300 families has already contacted the Lithuanian Embassy in Poland with compensation inquiries.

The Foreign Ministry has drafted its decision to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Madagascar. Lithuanian diplomats are interested in developing political and economic cooperation with the country due to poor representation of Lithuania in the eastern and southern coasts of Africa.

Former MP Vytenis Andriu-kaitis (photo) expressed his wish to return to Parliament and participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Andriukaitis has been accused of accepting a bribe of 95,000 litas (27.500 euros), part of the country's ongoing parliamentary scandal. In late July, the former MP renounced his parliamentary mandate and was dismissed from the Social Democratic Party.

Some 2 million litas - 3 million litas might have been stolen from the Vilnius office of the German bank Vereins- und Westbank AG in the morning of Aug. 10. Neither the police nor the bank denied or confirmed the information about the amount stolen, which the media found out through unofficial channels. Criminal police officers investigating the robbery have identified two suspects: One of them is an employee of the security service Ekskomisaru Biuras that worked at the bank. The robbery reportedly came to light after a watchman of the security service, upon failure to receive a report from a security worker of the bank at a set time, sent a group to the bank. The group did not find the worker at his place, and the second security worker of Ekskomisaru Biuras was tied up, handcuffed and beaten. He was locked in one of the bank's accommodations.

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