VILNIUS - Liutauras Varanavicius, president of the Lithuanian Football Federation and a member of Ukio Bankas' council, the country's sixth largest bank by assets, acceded to the non-executive council of Edinburgh football club Hearts as an acting member.
"This is an advisory institution. In fact, my main task is to take over the loan extended to Hearts by the Scottish Bank. In this particular case, I represent the bank in Scotland," Varanavicius told the Lietuvos Rytas daily.
Vladimir Romanov, a major shareholder of Ukio Bankas and co-owner of Ukio Bankas Investment Group, raised his stake in Hearts to take control of a majority holding in the club last week.
Varanavicius noted that he had held consultations with UEFA. "They had no objections as I confirmed that I would not be engaged in club management activities." o
