The state's special services are planning an investigation to uncover possible former Soviet KGB-linked individuals among Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas' advisers. "An investigation is [already] underway. After it is complete, it will be clear whether persons with a KGB past are really there. So far, these are only words," said Brazauskas' spokeswoman Nemira Pumprickaite, in response to a publication in the daily Lietuvos Zinios. The article cited an anonymous former KGB agent who had claimed there were others sharing his KGB past in the prime minister's inner circle. However, Pumprickaite said the investigation was launched before the article was published, and was based on the Corruption Prevention Act.
Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis announced in a live BTV broadcast that he would step down if a certain "political situation" arose, but he has yet to make such a decision. His comment was in response to exhortations from the opposition Homeland Union to resign due to having been enlisted in the KGB reserve during the Soviet era. "If my presence in the position posed any threat to the country's foreign policy, this would be a rather serious reason," Valionis said.
A gambling problem of the chief accountant of Lietuvos Mediena (Lithuanian Wood) will prevent furniture manufacturers from taking part in a German exhibition, reports said. The accountant is suspected of embezzling 27,733 euros that she was supposed to have transferred to exhibition organizers in Germany. Imantas Lazdinis, director of the association, said that furniture producers who went to Cologne were not allowed to take part in the show, as the money had not been transferred. Police detained and questioned the accountant on Jan. 16, who admitted to embezzling a total of 300,000 litas (87,000 euros) from the association between September 2002 and January 2005.
